Michael Gibbs is too humble to call himself a hero, but his background definitely qualifies him for the title. Michael began his career nearly 30 years ago providing emergency medical care as an EMT, paramedic, and firefighter. During that time, he often found himself working with men and women who had a background in the military.
“I worked with so many wonderful people in the tactical community who had transitioned from the military to civilian life,” Michael remembers. “For many of them, their experience in the military left them struggling with physical injuries and emotional trauma. They were hard-working people, but the skills they brought from their military training were not super useful in the civilian world. As a result, they were doing their best just to survive.”
Fast forward 30 years, and Michael is now the CEO of Go Cloud Careers, a career development company that focuses on training students in the technical competencies and soft skills necessary for securing cloud computing jobs. Go Cloud’s cloud architect and cloud engineering programs, which leverage Micheal’s 20 years of experience as a technology career coach, have a nearly 100 percent success rate at getting six-figure jobs for their graduates.
“These programs are very special and unique in the industry,” Michael explains. “Normally, programs like these just teach people tech. But in our programs, in addition to teaching technical skills, we’ve taught leadership skills, sales skills, business acumen, communication skills, CXO relevancy, interview tactics, and even negotiation techniques. All of this gives our students the edge to be the ones who get the jobs.”
Emotional intelligence training is another key component of the Go Cloud training program that Micheal feels contributes to his graduates having a competitive edge.
“The program includes some yoga, some meditation, and some cognitive behavior therapy designed to help people manage their own emotions as well as the emotions of others,” Mike says. “We’ve had students using this program for a year who tell us they feel more relaxed, they are more emotionally happy, and they have been able to secure a great job. Basically, the program has changed their life.”
Michael came to understand the benefits of these practices first hand when he used them to recover from the physical and emotional trauma that resulted from a martial arts injury. After he recovered, he used what he discovered to help others.
“For the better part of my entire life, I have been involved in training others in martial arts, including providing training in the tactical community at overcoming injuries,” Michael says. “Training people to take care of their emotional health is also something I’ve done. For decades, I’ve been helping friends from the tactical community that were in need.”
In April 2022, Michael brought all of these experiences together to develop a training program designed to help veterans and those transitioning out of the military to get a high-paying job in the cloud computing industry. The program is called “Helping Our Heroes Get Hired,” and it builds on the “certification plus” approach to tech training that has helped so many of Go Cloud’s students.
“We’re extremely excited to launch our Helping Our Heroes Get Hired program, which is based upon my 20 years of technology career coaching, as well as my lifetime of experience in the tactical community,” Michael says. “We took the key components of the programs that are getting our graduates hired every day and we optimized them for those who have been a part of the military community.”
Michael’s experience with the military community gave him special insight into the type of training that would be invaluable. One example of this is the special leadership training that is included in the program.
“One of the biggest challenges that our military people face is transitioning from the traditional ‘command and control’ leadership style employed in the military to something that is more appropriate for the civilian world,” Michael explains. “They’re in the civilian world now, and another leadership style is required.”
Another special component of the program is something that Michael calls the “healing protocol.” It is designed to reduce pain, heal injuries, promote relaxation, and treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through yoga and meditation. It also includes a cognitive behavioral therapy program to help students to think better, relax more, and live less stressful lives.
“I believe that everyone that leaves the military should have a wonderful six-figure job waiting for them,” Michael says. “That’s why we created this program.”
More information on the Helping Our Heroes Get Hired program is available at the Go Cloud Careers website.
