>>Welcome back to the cubes coverage of ADA reinvent 2021 here, the cube coverage. I'm Judd for a, your host we're on the ground with two sets on the floor, real event. Of course, it's hybrid. It's online as well. You can check it out there. All the on-demand replays are there. We're here with Sandy Carter, worldwide vice president, public sector partners and programs. And we've got Fred Swanick, her founder, and chief curator of the room. We're talking about getting the best talent programming and in the cloud, doing great things, innovation all happening, Sandy. Great to see you. Thanks for coming on the cube, but appreciate it. Thanks for halfway to see. Okay. So tell us about the room. What is the room what's going on? >>Um, well, I mentioned in the room is to help the world's most extraordinary do us to fulfill their potential. So, um, it's a community of exceptional talent that we are building throughout the world, um, and connecting this talent to each other and connecting them to the organizations that are looking for people who can really move the needle for those organizations. >>So what kind of results are you guys seeing right now? Give us some stats. >>Well, it's a, it's a relatively new concept. So we're about 5,000 members so far, um, from 77 different countries. Um, and this is, you know, we're talking about sort of the top two to 3% of talent in different fields. Um, and, um, as we go forward, you know, we're really looking, seeing this as an opportunity to curate, um, exceptional talent. Um, and it feels like software engineering, data science, UX, UI design, cloud computing, um, and, uh, it really helped to, um, identify diverse talent as well from pockets that have typically been untapped for technology. Okay. >>I want to ask you kind of, what's the, how you read the tea leaves. How do I spot the talent, but first talk about the relationship with Amazon. What's the program together? How you guys working together? It's a great mission. I mean, we need more people anyway, coding everywhere, globally. What's the AWS connection. >>So Fred and I met and, uh, he had this, I mean the brilliant concept of the room. And so, uh, obviously you need to run that on the cloud. And so he's got organizations he's working at connecting them through the room and kind of that piece that he was needing was the technology. So we stepped in to help him with the technology piece because he's got all the subject matter expertise to train 3 million Africans, um, coming up on tech, we also were able to provide him some of the classwork as well for the cloud computing models. So some of those certs and things that we want to get out into the marketplace as well, we're also helping Fred with that as well. So >>I mean, want to, just to add onto that, you know, one of the things that's unique about the room is that we're trying to really build a long-term relationship with talent. So imagine joining the room as a 20 year old and being part of it until you're 60. So you're going to have a lot of that. You collect on someone as they progress through different stages of their career and the ability for us to leverage that data, um, and continuously learn about someone's, you know, skills and values and use, um, predictive algorithms to be able to match them to the right opportunities at the right time of their lives. And this is where the machine learning comes in and the, you know, the data lake that we're building to build to really store this massive data that we're going to be building on the top talent to the world. >>You know, that's a really good point. It's a list that's like big trend in tech where it's, it's still it's over the life's life of the horizon of the person. And it's also blends community, exactly nurturing, identifying, and assisting. But at the same day, not just giving people the answer, they got to grow on their own, but some people grow differently. So again, progressions are nonlinear sometimes and creativity can come out of nowhere. Got it. Uh, which brings me up to my number one question, because this always was on my mind is how do you spot talent? What's the secret sauce? >>Well, there is no real secret source because every person is unique. So what we look for are people who have an extra dose of five things, courage, passion, resilience, imagination, and good values, right? And this is what we're looking for. And you will someone who is unusually driven to achieve great things. Um, so of course, you know, you look at it from a combination of their, their training, you know, what they, what they've learned, but also what they've actually done in the workplace and feedback that you get from previous employers and data that we collect through our own interactions with this person. Um, and so we screened them through, you know, with the town that we had, didn't fly, we take them through really rigorous selection process. So, um, it takes, uh, for example, people go through an online assessments and then they go through an in-person interview and then we'll take them through a one to three month bootcamp to really identify, you know, people who are exceptional and of course get data from different sources about the person as well. >>Sandy, how do you see this collaboration helping, uh, your other clients? I mean, obviously talent, cross pollinates, um, learnings, what's your, you see this level of >>It has, uh, you know, AWS grows, obviously we're going to need more talent, especially in Africa because we're growing so rapidly there and there's going to be so much talent available in Africa here in just a few short years. Most of the tech talent will be in Africa. I think that that's really essential, but also as looking after my partners, I had Fred today on the keynote explaining to all my partners around the world, 55,000 streaming folks, how they can also leverage the room to fill some of their roles as well. Because if you think about it, you know, we heard from Presidio there's 3 million open cyber security roles. Um, you know, we're training 20 of mine million cloud folks because we have a gap. We see a gap around the world. And part of my responsibility with partners is making sure that they can get access to the right skills. And we're counting on the room and what Fred has produced to produce some of those great skills. You have AI, AML and dev ops. Tell us some of the areas you haven't. >>You know, we're looking at, uh, business intelligence, data science, um, full-stack software engineering, cybersecurity, um, you know, IOT talent. So fields that, um, the world needs a lot more talented. And I think today, a lot of technology, um, talent is moving from one place to another and what we need is new supply. And so what the room is doing is not only a community of top 10, but we're actually producing and training a lot more new talent. And that was going to hopefully, uh, remove a key bottleneck that a lot of companies are facing today as they try to undergo the digital trends. >>Well, maybe you can add some hosts on there. We need some cube hosts, come on, always looking for more talent on the set. You could be there. >>Yeah. The other interesting thing, John, Fred and I on stage today, he was talking about how easy to the first narrative written for easy to was written by a gentleman out of South Africa. So think about that right. ECE to talent. And he was talking about Ian Musk is based, you know, south African, right? So think about all the great talent that exists. There. There you go. There you go. So how do you get access to that talent? And that's why we're so excited to partner with Fred. Not only is he wicked impressive when a time's most influential people, but his mission, his life purpose has really been to develop this great talent. And for us, that gets us really excited because we, yeah, >>I think there's plenty of opportunities to around new business models in the U S for instance, um, my friends started upstart, which they were betting on people almost like a stock market. You know, almost like currency will fund you and you pay us back. And there's all kinds of gamification techniques that you can start to weave into the system. Exactly. As you get the flywheel going, exactly, you can look at it holistically and say, Hey, how do we get more people in and harvest the value of knowledge? >>That's exactly. I mean, one of the elements of the technology platform that we developed to the Amazon with AWS is the room intelligence platform. And in there is something called legacy points. So every time you, as a member of the room, give someone else an opportunity. You invest in their venture, you hire them, you mentor them, you get points and you can leverage those points for some really cool experiences, right? So you want to game-ify um, this community that is, uh, you know, essentially crowdsourcing opportunities. And you're not only getting things from the room, but you're also giving to others to enable everyone to grow. >>Yeah, what's the coolest thing you've seen. And this is a great initiative. First of all, it's a great model. I think it's, this is the future. Cause I'm a big believer that communities groups, as we get into this hybrid world is going to open up the virtualization. What the virtual world has shown us is virtualization, which is a cloud technology when Amazon started with Zen, which is virtualization technology, but virtualization, conceptually is replicating things. So if you think hybrid world, you can blend the connect people together. So now you have this social construct, this connective tissue between relationships, and it's always evolving, you know, this and you've been involved in community from, from, from the early days when you have that social evolution, it's not software as a mechanism. It's a human thing. Exactly. It's organism, it evolves. And so if you can get the software to think like that and the group to drive the behavior, it's not community software. >>Exactly. I mean, we say that the room is not an online community. It's really an offline community powered by technology. So our vision is to actually have physical rooms in different cities around the world, whether it's talent gathers, but imagine showing up at a, at a room space and we've got the technology to know what your interests are. We know that you're working on a new venture and there's this, there's a venture capitalists in that area, investing that venture, we can connect you right then that space powered by the, >>And then you can have watch parties. For instance, there's an event going on in us. You can do some watch parties and time shifted and then re replicated online and create a localization, but yet have that connection in >>Present. Exactly, exactly. Exactly. So what are the >>Learnings, what's your big learning share with the audience? What you've learned, because this is really kind of on the front edge of the new kind of innovation we're seeing, being enabled with software. >>I mean, one thing we're learning is that, uh, talent is truly, uh, evenly distribute around the world, but what is not as opportunity. And so, um, there's some truly exceptional talent that is hidden and on tap today. And if we can, you know, and, and today with the COVID pandemic companies or around the world, a lot more open to hiring more talent. So there's a huge opportunity to access new talent from, from sources that haven't been tapped before. Well, but also learnings the power of blending, the online and offline world. So, um, you know, the room is, as I mentioned, brings people together, normally in line, but also offline. And so when you're able to meet talent and actually see someone's personality and get a sense of the culture fit the 360 degree for your foot, some of that, you can't just get on a LinkedIn. Yes. That I built it to make a decision, to hire someone who is much better. And finally, we're also learning about the importance of long-term relationships. One of my motives in the room is relationships not transactions where, um, you actually get to meet someone in an environment where they're not pretending in an interview and you get to really see who they are and build relationships with them before you need to hide them. And these are some really unique ways that we think we can redefine how talent finds opportunity in the 21st. So >>You can put a cube in every room, we pick >>You up because, >>And the cube, what we do here is that when people collaborate, whether they're doing an interview together, riffing and sharing content is creating knowledge, but that shared experience creates a bonding. So when you have that kind of mindset and this room concept where it's not just resume, get a job, see you later, it's learning, having peers and colleagues and people around you, and then seeing them in a journey, multiple laps around the track of humans >>And going through a career, not just a job. >>Yes, exactly. And then, and then celebrating the ups and downs in learning. It's not always roses, as you know, it's always pain before you accelerate. >>Exactly. And you never quite arrive at your destination. You're always growing, and this is where technology can really play. >>Okay. So super exciting. Where's this go next, Sandy. And next couple of minutes left in. >>So, um, one of the things that we've envisioned, so this is not done yet, but, um, Fred and I imagined like, what if you could have an Alexa set up and you could say, Hey, you know, Alexa, what should be my next job? Or how should I go train? Or I'm really interested in being on a Ted talk. What could I do having an Alexa skill might be a really cool thing to do. And with the great funding that Fred Scott and you should talk about the $400 million to that, he's already raised $400 million. I mean, there, I think the sky's the limit on platforms. Like >>That's a nice chunk of change. There it is. We've got some fat financing as they say, >>But, well, it's a big mission. So to request significant resources, >>Who's backing you guys. What's the, who's the, where's the money coming from? >>It's coming from, um, the MasterCard foundation. They, our biggest funder, um, as well as, um, some philanthropists, um, and essentially these are people who truly see the potential, uh, to unlock, um, opportunity for millions of people global >>For Glen, a global scale. The vision has global >>Executive starting in Africa, but truly global. Our vision is eventually to have a community of about 10 to 20 million of the most extraordinary doers in the world, in this community, and to connect them to opportunity >>Angela and diverse John. I mean, this is the other thing that gets me excited because innovation comes from diversity of thought and given the community, we'll have so many diverse individuals in it that are going to get trained and mentored to create something that is amazing for their career as well. That really gets me excited too, as well as Amazon website, >>Smart people, and yet identifying the fresh voices and the fresh minds that come with it, all that that comes together, >>The social capital that they need to really accelerate their impact. >>Then you read the room and then you get wherever you need. Thanks so much. Congratulations on your great mission. Love the room. Um, you need to be the in Cuban, every room, you gotta get those fresh voices out there. See any graduates on a great project, super exciting. And SageMaker, AI's all part of, it's all kind of, it's a cool wave. It's fun. Can I join? Can I play? I tell you I need a room. >>I think he's top talent. >>Thanks so much for coming. I really appreciate your insight. Great stuff here, bringing you all the action and knowledge and insight here at re-invent with the cube two sets on the floor. It's a hybrid event. We're in person in Las Vegas for a real event. I'm John ferry with the cube, the leader in global tech coverage. Thanks for watching.