October 8, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Investing In Your Career
October 9, 2009 at 2:04 am
Always a hot topic, training and knowledge to advance you career. is it worth it, probably if you are full time employee. If you have a career ladder you can climb, then it will help without question.
As a contractor/freelancer/consultant, no i dont think so. having a masters degree doesnt really help. training courses give you knowedge but no client will employ you to build a datawarehouse, if your only experience was a course on datawarehousing. some clients mention that they want certification which I dont have, but I am still interviewed for those positions.
So I think there is a point for keeping your knowledge current and trying to get ahead but how you achieve it, is an individual thing.
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October 9, 2009 at 3:03 am
I don't have any academic qualifications worth a spit, but I *do* spend a lot of time (and money) improving and increasing my skills...and I'm trusted by my employers to service all their data requirements and (hopefully) I justify their trust in me. In my opinon, training yourself and investing time and effort in furthering your knowledge is essential. Being able to 'get into the trenches' and do the work at hand is way more important than any number of pieces of paper.
Just my 'tuppence worth.
October 9, 2009 at 3:17 am
I have never had an employer pay for training, its all been done in my own time and at my own expense. However, I am feeling a bit disillusioned, as I never seem to be able to get myself in a good position where I can use the extra certs I get to place myself into the post I most desire, and totally enjoy what I do. I am always missing something people want, I train up, then its something else and now I feel as though its a constant up hill struggle and I'm not getting the results I'm after.
Not wishing to end on a negative note, I will say that despite not being where I (ideally) want to be, keeping trained up has so far put me in a position to pay the bills and put some money away for lifes little emergencies so for that I am very grateful.
D.
October 9, 2009 at 3:50 am
Certainly, I take care to ensure my employability and commercial utility at least remain the same, if not increase. Sometimes that takes the form of formal training, sometimes not. However, it's all investment in myself in one form or another.
I happen to be lucky that when it comes to formal training, my current employer pays and the training takes place during work hours. However, in doing so, they comfortably realise their return on investment. It is a fairly well known phenomenon in Human Resources Management that people will tend to vary their productivity to an extent to match their perception of how well they're being rewarded (cut someone's salary and their faff time will increase, but give them a raise and they'll put in more effort to try to justify the new wage), and I know I'm getting a good deal.
Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat
October 9, 2009 at 4:30 am
I think training is important and especially with us working in technology that changes everyday we have to stay on top. Unfortunately my employer does not send me on training and pay for it so my school is the internet and on the go learning is in the order of the day. Sometimes it is frustrating 'cause other people know more than you but sometimes those with training come ask me for help. I learn the hard way and what I learn stick like valcro.
:-PManie Verster
Developer
Johannesburg
South Africa
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Holy Bible
I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times. - Everett Mckinley Dirkson (Well, I am trying. - Manie Verster)
October 9, 2009 at 4:32 am
I'm totally in favour of investing in my career. Part of my job is development and support of an SQL Server based utilities billing system.
However, this morning my I travelled to Birmingham (UK) (about and hour on the train), to attend a course to help with the general IT support part of my job. The title of the course was "Effective Communication".
When I arrived at the training company I was greeted with some surprise. It turns out the course is cancelled and they hadn't let us know (even though we checked earlier this week).
I hope they can see the irony, and will understand why we won't be using them again!
October 9, 2009 at 4:41 am
Imagine this.. You work in a medium sized company, using MSSQL2005 and nothing else.
They are very tight on budget, try to be productive, focused and specialised, unlike government orgs and banks where there's a great variety of things.
You would like to learn COgnos and TM1. THere is no bloody way this company would pay for it. But it is not a secret that if you have MSSQL expertise and Cognos and TM1 you open youself to another several thousand cool jobs.
So what do we do? blindly pay and go for a course? Or download a cracked/evaluation version and learn ourselves for free but with no paper given in the end of the learning?
M.Sc.IT, M.B.A, MCTS BI 2008, MCITP BI 2008, MCTS SQL Dev, CSM, CDVDM
October 9, 2009 at 4:57 am
Education is very important and I too, am fortunate to work for a company who supports it. We get $10,000 per year for tuition reimbursement on top of any money set aside in the budget for summits, conferences, seminars, etc. But for the most part, I am so bogged down with so many projects, my main problem is trying to find the time to attend these. So for the most part, I will grab a book and train myself in my off time.
October 9, 2009 at 5:13 am
VALEK (10/9/2009)
Imagine this.. You work in a medium sized company, using MSSQL2005 and nothing else.They are very tight on budget, try to be productive, focused and specialised, unlike government orgs and banks where there's a great variety of things.
You would like to learn COgnos and TM1. THere is no bloody way this company would pay for it. But it is not a secret that if you have MSSQL expertise and Cognos and TM1 you open youself to another several thousand cool jobs.
So what do we do? blindly pay and go for a course? Or download a cracked/evaluation version and learn ourselves for free but with no paper given in the end of the learning?
I think your view on banks is misguided, having just previously worked for one of the biggest investment banks in america if not globally. we were very restricted in what we had access to, technology wise. I can say that working for banks does not expand your skill set very much if anything it restricts. all knowledge is helpful, but how you apply that knowledge is key.
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October 9, 2009 at 5:15 am
Brad Allison (10/9/2009)
Education is very important and I too, am fortunate to work for a company who supports it. We get $10,000 per year for tuition reimbursement on top of any money set aside in the budget for summits, conferences, seminars, etc. But for the most part, I am so bogged down with so many projects, my main problem is trying to find the time to attend these. So for the most part, I will grab a book and train myself in my off time.
I envy you in some ways. being freelance I have no access to training budgets and have never attended any training courses or conferences. But it would be a nice experience
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October 9, 2009 at 5:38 am
I work at Ford Motor in Dearborn as a SQL DBA Team Leader. Basically we are on our own here as it pertains to our career development. I basically have been a Team Lead in some capacity since 2000. I am well educated, attaining a Masters degree back in 1999, but it really hasn't propelled my career much since then. I have come to the conclusion you have to totally invest the time and money outside of work to propel your career going forward. I am sometimes miffed why some people in the company advance much quicker than others. I would certainly like to see more people in our department get promoted.
October 9, 2009 at 5:39 am
I think it's a simple reply to Steve's question.
Investing in your career on your own is important UNLESS you are sure that you will be working where you are now for the rest of your career.
For those of you out there who are learning things and then don't feel you get to use them, remember that you are gaining the reward by adding to your resume, and representing accurately to future potential employers that you are self-motivated and willing to put in the time to learn what you feel is important.
If you don't care whether you make your next job search harder or not, then by all means, don't waste time and money investing in your career.
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"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."
October 9, 2009 at 5:48 am
chill8 (10/9/2009)
I work at Ford Motor in Dearborn as a SQL DBA Team Leader. Basically we are on our own here as it pertains to our career development. I basically have been a Team Lead in some capacity since 2000. I am well educated, attaining a Masters degree back in 1999, but it really hasn't propelled my career much since then. I have come to the conclusion you have to totally invest the time and money outside of work to propel your career going forward. I am sometimes miffed why some people in the company advance much quicker than others. I would certainly like to see more people in our department get promoted.
Funny, I am at Kellogg Cereal Plant in Battle Creek so we are very near to one another. One of WK Kellogg's mantras is "I invest my money in people" and for just over 100 years it still continues to be that way. Kelloggs uses something called an IDP to form our own independent career path for the company.
October 9, 2009 at 5:55 am
Absolutely. You have an obligation to yourself to maintain or grow your skill set. Or, you can let your skills stagnate and atrophy and hope that the job your in stays exactly the same until you retire. Good luck.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
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