Adding to the skills challenge is COVID-19. The pandemic has heightened the need for trained networking professionals with cloud, network security and other essential skills. Companies have had to scale up their online operations quickly, accelerating the transition to cloud infrastructure and services, while large numbers of employees started working remotely, putting pressure on VPNs and other remote access technologies. At the same time, in-person education has been severely curtailed, as have in-person, proctored, certification exams. "Traditionally, I had to go to a center," says Myke Miller, dean of the Deloitte Cloud Institute. "I had to go to a lab for a hands-on certification process. But with the current environment, that's no longer a feasible option for a lot of people."