Applying our mission to support our nation

O’Reilly’s mission is to change the world by sharing the knowledge of innovators. Which is why we’re giving free access to O’Reilly online learning to all federal, state, and local government agencies beginning this week. Because in the face of this crisis, the application of our mission is more critical than ever.

Right now federal, state, and local governments are under immense pressure to support the American people. Civil offices, already strained prior to the pandemic, are now facing new and unprecedented challenges as a result of increased healthcare support, economic losses, and the much-needed implementation of a complex stimulus package. The weight of that burden is overwhelming at a time when citizens need to rely on our government more than ever.

It’s essential that online systems at unemployment offices stay stable under an increased load, so they’re reachable precisely at the time that people need them most. And it’s equally as important that systems for SNAP benefits, the Earned Income Tax Credit, Medicaid, and others aren’t similarly overtaxed. Government offices need help with everything from tools for remote work to web design, mobile service design, and text message-based customer service all the way up to system stability, data science, and more.

O’Reilly is in a unique position to help. Many federal and local agencies are already our customers. However, they represent only a small fraction of the agencies, cities, and federal workers trying to overcome an array of technical hurdles to better help their constituencies. Which is why, along with our partners Pearson, Wiley, Packt, and others, O’Reilly is donating all of our Meet the Expert sessions, live online training courses, and other content in service of our government’s mission. We all want to help ease their current obligations, from those overtaxed websites that need site reliability engineering (SRE) attention to data scientists working to abate the pandemic with machine learning. The O’Reilly editorial team is even working up a special content program that includes live online training courses and other resources to help get new users up to speed even faster—when time is of the essence.

If you’re a government employee who needs our help, please click here to get free access to O’Reilly online learning through July 6, 2020.

We’re proud to be able to offer a way to help the people working on the front lines of this pandemic every day. And I’m grateful to the O’Reilly family for making this possible, and for their professionalism and support as we work to do our part in the fight against COVID-19.

Laura Baldwin
President, O’Reilly