VMware Signs MoU with Intel in India to help Women Developers

VMware, Inc. announced its collaboration with Intel in India, to enable women developers restart their careers after a break. VMware’s VMinclusion Taara – one of India’s largest upskilling programs will collaborate with Intel’s Home To Office (H2O) program under the umbrella of Intel India’s ecosystem-wide BeingWISE (Women Innovators, Social leaders and Entrepreneurs) initiative to empower developers with relevant skills and career opportunities.

VMware’s VMinclusion Taara aims to upskill 15,000 women by providing free technical education and certification courses in Cloud Management & Automation, Data Center Virtualization, Networking, and Digital Workplaces. The joint initiative will upskill candidates under the VMinclusion Taara program with Intel also extending eligible free courses from its H2O program to the candidates in Level 2 and above. The free courses will be focused on building skills for developers in India. A recent survey by Simplilearn’s State of Upskilling 2021 report reveals that most learners are upskilling in technology aligned job roles such as- Data & AI (48%), Project Management and Scrum (34%), Cloud Computing/DevOps (32%), and Digital Marketing (21%).

VMinclusion Taara candidates in Level 1 and above will be able to avail the Intel AI and VMware Spring courses focused on developers. The courses from Intel will enable them to enhance their knowledge in emerging technologies such AI, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Time Series Analysis, DL for Robotics and Anomaly Detection. VMware’s Spring courses offer experience with Spring Boot and its major features, including auto-configuration, Actuator, Spring Boot testing framework and more. On completion, participants would have a foundation for creating enterprise and cloud-ready applications.

Since its launch in 2019, over 12,000 women have registered for the VMinclusion Taara program and more than 2,000 women have successfully returned to work. The program has been supported by several organizations, with over 900 organizations having hired Taara graduates. Companies such as Bharti Airtel, Cognizant, Cerner, Dell, and NTT Ltd. India Pacific have come forward and pledged their support for the program by considering VMinclusion Taara graduates for open positions in their organizations. VMware India had also signed an MoU with WE HUB, a Government of Telangana initiative for women entrepreneurs to extend the program in the state.

“We are excited about this collaboration with Intel as we come together to empower more women developers in India to return to work successfully. Our aim is to help bring back talented women developers to the industry by upskilling them with the right resources. Through Taara, we have touched the lives of over 12,000 women in the country and I am overwhelmed by the support this program has received from industry leaders. It reinforces our belief about how many women on career breaks are looking for the right training to be able to come back into the workforce. We look forward to more women benefiting from our association with Intel,” said Duncan Hewett, Senior Vice President & GM, APJ, VMware.

“At Intel, making technology inclusive and expanding emerging technology competencies is central to our corporate purpose. Globally, by 2030 we aim to increase the number of women in technical roles at Intel to 40%, and we remain committed to investing in social equity programs and initiatives that advance our inclusion goals. The collaboration between Intel’s H2O program under the BeingWISE initiative and the VMinclusion Taara program will open avenues for talented women developers in the country who are looking to upskill and find a path back into the workforce after a career break. We believe shaping the skills of women technologists, who make up a critical workforce, is imperative to driving greater innovation and growth for the industry,” said Nivruti Rai, Country Head, Intel India, and Vice President, Intel Foundry Services.

Intel India’s H2O program was launched in 2017 to help more women transition into the workforce after a career break. It includes efforts such as manager sensitization, and comprehensive onboarding and integration plans that include upskilling, training and mentoring. The program falls under the umbrella of Intel India’s ecosystem-wide initiative called BeingWISE (Women Innovators, Social leaders and Entrepreneurs), which aims to accelerate inclusive participation of women in the workplace. Comprising corporates, investors, educators, and policymakers, BeingWISE enables focus on a few common areas such as skilling, hiring, retention, career progression, supply chain diversity, and entrepreneurship. The initiative provides a platform for companies to collaborate and learn from each other to drive measurable progress towards equal representation.