On Friday, Nov. 12, Fayetteville Technical Community College held an event to announce a new opportunity for military veterans and those interested in information technology careers through an expansion of their partnership with Red Hat. 

Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of enterprise open source solutions that delivers high-performing Linux, cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies. The company was acquired by IBM in 2019 for $34 billion dollars, and their headquarters is in Raleigh. 

Chris Herring, the department chair of systems security analysis at the school, kicked off the event by shedding light on how meaningful FTCC’s partnership with Red Hat, that began in 2004, had been to him and the school.

 “Years ago, I came back to Fayetteville Tech … and I took this class called ‘Red Hat.’ I really didn’t like this class. I struggled and I struggled,” Herring admitted. “And then I ended up working at a company where, lo and behold, the entire infrastructure was Linux-based, and that training really helped me.” “Years ago, that instructor was my dean that taught me that,” he said. 

“And years down the road, I got to teach Ms. [Rhiannon] Holley … and she now just won Instructor of the year for Red Hat. We’ve seen everything come full circle, and for years we’ve worked to cultivate a relationship here at Fayetteville Tech.”

 Holley was recognized with top honors from Red Hat in September of this year. The recognition was given to Holley during Red Hat’s 2021 North American Training Partner and Instructor Conference. FTCC was given the Director’s Award for Red Hat Academies. 

Standing behind Herring were several students, who he introduced as veterans and service members. They were a part of FTCC’s Transition Tech program, which allows for service members transitioning into the civilian workforce to come on campus and receive comprehensive training and earn industry-focused credentials, other forms of assistance for someone who wants to land a job in the civilian workforce. 

With that, Herring turned to introduce the president of the college, Dr. Larry Keen, and Senior Director of Red Hat Training & Certification: Global Sales & Delivery Karl Reynolds. 

“It’s always a pleasure to join together to celebrate great opportunities and great success of different programs, and most importantly, with great students who do the work that they do,” Keen said. 

He then took a moment to recognize the service members standing behind him for their “ultimate sacrifice” of serving in the Armed Forces and for “doing the work that this country needs.” “And so, when they make that transition back to the civilian communities that they work in and so forth, I think it’s our responsibility to make every element available to them to help with that transition. And, when you have the opportunity to work with great companies like Red Hat, as we’ve been doing since 2004, it really makes it a special day when we can sign an agreement and commit ourselves to each other for further success and helping with transitions,” Keen said. 

He noted the demand in the workforce and said that, through the offerings at FTCC, the college bolsters the workforce by delivering students who are “so much more capable of meeting the requirements in the world we deal in today.”

 “We’ve been offering course work and basic Linux operating systems and Linux system administration since that time … Quite frankly, in 2019 and 2020, as a result of industry needs and our advisory committee recommendations, we added courses … in order to fulfill workforce needs in our community and in our state. We started with two instructors… and five students at that time and I’m pleased to tell you that in the last two academic years, we’ve taught over 600 students,” Keen said.

 The courses are also available in a variety of formats including online, hybrid, or all face-to-face to meet needs and objectives of students so that students can be connected with leading companies, like Red Hat.
 

 “I am so extremely grateful to all of you at Red Hat for having the confidence in us, to work with us, to help these young men who have served this country so admirably and will continue to do so, to help them in that transition to the private sector and other opportunities that they might not have otherwise,” Keen said, turning to Reynolds.

 “As we’ve said before, we’re incredibly excited at Red Hat to expand our collaboration at Fayetteville Technical Community College,” Reynolds said. “It’s been an expressive partnership thus far, and it is continuing to grow. Colleges bring high quality IT training to military veterans and other students interested in IT careers. These are people who are really going to take IT to the next level.”

 “Students who pass this exam are often very well positioned for jobs surrounding Red Hat enterprise Linux, system administration, as well as the cloud. With this new offering, we’re able to address the skills gap between local veterans and students and students and the labor market demands of employers by preparing them to keep up with the rapid pace of the high demand IT field,” Reynolds said. “Together, Red Hat and Fayetteville Technical Community College are working to help students more confidently pursue careers in information technology.” 

The collaboration with FTCC creates an opportunity for Red Hat to offer hands-on training and certification resources to students to help them prepare for the Red Hat Certified System Administrator Exam.

 The new offerings will be available in Spring of 2022.

 “This program offers students and veterans the chance to better prepare for a more lucrative, high-demand IT field that is expected to keep growing,” said Dr. Mark Sorrells, FTCC’s Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Services.

 “We see programs like FTCC’s non-credit Red Hat certificate program as one of the areas that is able to bridge the gap between skills, education, and the workforce and labor market demands of employers,” said Nancy Bohannon, Vice President of State and Local Education at Red Hat.

 In their commitment to each other, Keen announced that it was time to sign the agreement. In a symbolic gesture, Keen presented a FTCC Trojans baseball cap to Reynolds, and Reynolds presented a Red Hat baseball cap to Dr. Keen.

 “This is going to look good on you,” Keen said. 

“And this one’s going to look good on you,” said Reynolds, laughing. After the announcement, Dr. Keen emphasized to Greater Fayetteville Business Journal the importance of the expansion of the Red Hat partnership.

 “It’s just our effort to continue on with them as they change, and the requirements of the sector change… We’re trying to run coupled with them so that we can provide the workforce solutions to an industry that so desperately needs it,” Keen said.