UKFast is one of the UK’s leading hosting and colocation providers. Based in the North West, this fast-growing, award-winning IT solutions company was finding it difficult to recruit IT professionals with the high levels of knowledge and skills it required.
In 2013, UKFast CEO Lawrence Jones MBE decided to tackle the IT skills gap head-on by creating his own education and training division, investing major resources in upskilling the firm’s workforce. Three years down the line, UKFast’s commitment to IT education and training has seen its internal training operation grow and evolve into a sophisticated standalone operation – UKFast University. Under the leadership of former teacher Aaron Saxton, UKFast now provides IT skills education, training, vendor Certification and examinations to employers, training and apprenticeship providers, schools, colleges and universities, and individual learners in the North West and across the UK. It is also a Pearson VUE national testing centre and an ambassador for the IT industry in the North West.
UKFast began a partnership with LPI in 2014 to offer Linux Certification and examinations to learners.
Aaron Saxton explains: “There’s a huge shortage of Linux engineers because until recently, there’s been little or no Linux training in schools, colleges or universities. Demand is high and Linux skills are relatively niche, so employers are having to fill the skills gap themselves. We chose LPI because they are the biggest provider of Linux qualifications in the world and provide a good progression of skills from the basics through to high level skills for senior engineers.”
For UKFast, the reasons to offer LPI training, Certification and examinations are simple:
“60% of global servers operate on Linux environments which means Linux drives a large proportion of the world’s technology. Many platforms are built on Open Source and a skilled workforce is vital to service them.”