Running a 12-week cloud career program for 1,000+ scholars a year
- Role
- Program Manager
- Client
- Mentor Me Collective
- Year
- 2025
As Program Manager for Mentor Me Collective’s Google Cloud Career Launchpad, I ran a 12-week program taking 1,000+ scholars a year from cloud foundations to certification readiness across five pathways. I owned delivery end to end: recruitment, onboarding, mentorship, progress and certification tracking, and career support.
- per cohort, from foundations to certification prep
- 12 weeks
- per cohort, from foundations to certification prep
- scholars supported every year
- 1,000+
- scholars supported every year
- pathways: cloud, cybersecurity, data, cloud engineering and AI
- 5
- pathways: cloud, cybersecurity, data, cloud engineering and AI
The brief
The Google Cloud Career Launchpad is a 12-week workforce program that takes aspiring cloud professionals to job-ready skills through structured learning, hands-on cloud labs, mentorship, certification preparation and career support.
The goal: more scholars ready for cloud certifications and entry-level cloud roles, and wider access to high-growth technology careers.
What I owned
- Delivery end to end: recruitment, onboarding, communications, learner support, mentorship coordination and cohort engagement.
- Scholar success: a framework of accountability groups, study sessions, office hours and peer learning.
- Tracking: systems monitoring participation, cloud lab completion, project milestones and certification readiness.
- Mentors and industry partners: cloud professionals giving technical guidance and a real-world view of the work.
- Career readiness: résumé development, job search preparation, networking and career transition support with industry partners.
- Reporting: performance dashboards and learner progress reports for stakeholders.
How I ran it
The problems a program manager is there to solve in a technical program of this size, and what I put in place for each.
Serve beginners and advanced learners in one program
- The situation
- Pathways ranged from beginner Cloud Foundations to advanced Cloud Engineering and Cybersecurity, so one support model couldn’t fit everyone.
- My call
- I built support around the learner rather than the track: accountability groups, study sessions, office hours and peer learning, backed by cloud mentors and industry professionals for technical guidance.
Hold momentum for twelve weeks
- The situation
- Self-paced coursework, hands-on labs, projects and exam preparation is a lot to sustain for three months.
- My call
- I set up communication workflows that kept scholars informed and connected for the whole program, and ran workshops on cloud, cybersecurity, data analytics and AI to keep the learning tied to real work.
Get scholars to the exam ready
- The situation
- Certification depends on lab completion, project milestones and voucher eligibility, and problems surface late if nobody is watching.
- My call
- I tracked lab completion, milestones and certification readiness per scholar, identified at-risk participants early, and helped scholars through exam preparation and voucher requirements.
Connect learning to jobs
- The situation
- Skills alone don’t get someone their first cloud role.
- My call
- I partnered with career-readiness resources and industry professionals for résumé reviews, job search preparation, networking and career transition support.
Outcomes
- 1,000+ scholars supported every year across multiple Google Cloud pathways.
- Higher participation through structured mentorship, peer accountability and community learning.
- Better operational visibility through performance dashboards and learner progress reporting.
- Hands-on experience for scholars through cloud labs, real projects and industry-aligned environments.
- Stronger readiness for cloud certifications and entry-level cloud roles.
The program
Google Skills Boost
Slack
Google Workspace
Google Apps Script
Google Sheets
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