Who's Responsible for Training?
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If you've been reading the editorials, you've probably noticed that the SQLServerCentral.com staff is looking at opening a training center in Orlando. Actually it's mostly Andy, but Brian and I are here to bounce ideas off and give support.
We'll probably get roped into teaching a few classes as well over time.
However this discussion on Slashdot about is the company of individual responsible for training caught my eye. After all we're hoping the we can convince quite a few of you that we are worth the money for training and that argument is easier if you are spending the company's money instead of your own. In either case we hope that you feel our specialized and advanced training, not the MS curriculum, is worth the investment.
It's an interesting question as it seems training dollars are few and far between these days. In pretty much every company I've worked for, the company has paid for my training and the exams I've taken. Usually with some caveat that if I leave within a year, I owe them some money back. It's always been a fair trade for me and I've never had to pay money back because I've honored my commitment.
I have a friend who mainly works in the Cisco area, however, and he's never taken company paid for training, preferring to fund things himself. He doesn't want to be bound and he thinks the training benefits him far more than the company.
I think it's a mutual benefit for both the company and employee. The company gets someone that's better trained as well as having someone that is happier in general that the company is investing in them. It helps retention and while it isn't a once in a lifetime expense, a reasonable time frame to recoup the investment, 6 months or a year, seems like a fair trade.
And I think the company should allow some time for the employee to study at work. I used to get 2 hours a week at one job, 4 at another. A small, nominal amount is good as a break from everyday work as well as helping to improve the skills that an employee brings to the company.
So I'm interested. Does your company pay for training?
Steve Jones
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I am the Senior DBA (nice title) at one of the major banks in Australia and they do pay for traing for us. There is a budget allocated yearly per person. Not everyone uses it so some pll can go on more expensive course.
I find by the company investing in you, they are showing a certain degree of loyalty towards you and I find it does make it easier to show loyalty back.
Hope this helps...
Ford Fairlane
Rock and Roll Detective
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I should like to get my full MCDBA but it is expensive and ultimately I don't think it is reasonable to expect a company to pay for it all, however, I also don't think it is reasonable for me to pay for it AND have to take the time spent training out of my annual leave entitlement or as unpaid leave.
Doing so doubles the cost of already expensive training.
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I work in an IT role in a Major Bank in Ireland, and everybody in the company can avail of company funded training, provided it is appropriate for the job, pre-sanctioned and from an approved supplier/institution. Company will also grant time off for study/exam leave (not repeats mind you!!) and also gives financial awards for success in particular specialities, including sponsorship for primary and post-doctoral degrees.
Other job-specific training at no cost is available throughout the year provided it is justifiable. No strings (service agreements) attched to most of the awards other than the sponsorships. Our operations would be fairly typical for this industry here.
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I work for a Mining company in South Africa and we are expected to go on 1 to 2 training courses per year, fully paid by the company, with no strings attached.
5ilverFox
Consulting DBA / Developer
South Africa -
In the British Civil Service we are expected to undertake training and it is prioritised by whether it is
mandatory - eg required for legal operation of machinery etc
functional - required to do job
business change - required because of role change
personal development - other eg management training
course fees and travel and subsistence are paid for us and many courses arranged that we have to do internally eg manual handling (no, not instruction book toting despite that being all I lift!) Strings only get attached to less work related items.
In fact the system requires an application and SQL database of its own to keep track of who's done what and who needs re-training and designing and developing that system has kept me busy for much of the past year!.
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Training, yes. Travel, no.
Sadly, travel (lodging, food, etc) can easily cost more than the actual training.
Bit of a conundrum. Got an answer?
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my employer budgets training, a perk that a number of us take advantage of. Commercial tech courses are on the pricey side, so it is to me a substantial benefit.
And just this morning we got an offer in company email to take CPR training on company time at company expense.
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-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
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Training has been paid for within budget constraints. I also try to study 30 minutes a day where ever I am working. It's never been company policy, but my manager usually finds out and never stops me. Matter of fact, he recently encouraged it.
I usually study for an exam, I've found the skills I aquire always make the studying worth it.
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The travel part can be challenging. Depending on the location of the event it can be hard to impossible to travel cheaply. Rather than worry about travel, I just look at the overall dollars being spent. For example, this year everyone on my team was asked to submit two different wish lists for training, one where they could spend up to $1500, and one where they could spend up to $3000, and that was inclusive of all expensives. By putting them in control to a degree they can look for ways to save money so they do what they want to do. For example, two of them proposed going to the same conference so they could share a hotel room to save money there, plus the hotel provided breakfast further reducing what they needed to spend.
One of the things we've learned from our partnership with PASS is they get a large number of registrations in the 60 days prior to the event. The strange thing is that if you register before Dec 31 for the next years conference, you get a $500 discount. Most conferences have eary bird rates and taking advantage of them can easily cover some or all of the travel cost.
Travel is one of the reasons we like Orlando for a training location. Can get here cheaply from almost anywhere in the country and of course if you choose to bring the family while you work there is plenty to do. We're also looking at locations that would not require a rental car (more savings) and we're planning to provide breakfast and lunch. We can't eliminate the travel cost, but we can take steps to keep the cost bearable.
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The company I now work for has been absolutely excellent for training, though this is in stark comparison my previous employer. Living in the UK and near to London means my employer does not worry about the travel costs and I can work in the London office should the situation arise. I imagine travel is a much bigger consideration in the US in general. It also appears to be the case that the bigger firms have a much more structured approach to training and have set budgets in place where as it seems smaller companies are much more ad hoc about training often sending just one person who will then come back and share the knowledge.
Ed Phillips -
My company pays for a lot of our training. But we have to prove that the client and/or company will benefit from it. If the client doesn't feel they will benefit from it, they won't pay for our time and we have to use leave-without-pay. If the company will benefit from it, they pay all the expenses (except our time).
One BIG question asked, will we get a certification from this training? If not, it becomes harder to justify the expense.
-SQLBill
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My company will pay up to 5000 USD per year for education/training, but we have to use annual leave if time off from work is required. So, the all-day-one-week training such as that provided by Learning Tree is not an option. I find that MS and Oracle certification training can be obtained through the local community college, but the choices are limited.
So, for hands-on, product-specific training, I'd say no. For part-time general education, such as a BS or MS degree, my companies offerings are good.
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Well,
As US state government employee, we have a small budget for training each year. Generally we are encouraged to attend free things as much as possible (user groups, etc).
But we are allowed to spend time on studying and are actually encouraged to do so when time allows.
Could I get sent to training in Orlando? doubtful.
Cheers
http://twitter.com/widba
http://widba.blogspot.com/ -
I had worked for a few companies. Only 1 or 2 sent me to training class. One company provided online training but only for a limited number of classes. One company my boss told me to go to Amazon.com to buy a book.
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