Who's Responsible for Training?
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Yes, my company does pay for the training. We do have to sign a contract stating if we leave within a certain amount of time we must pay a percentage back. Fine with me, I have no problem signing a contract, but not for others. The whole contract thing has caused a problem in my department, because one individual refuses to sign a contract and somehow gets his training completed without it.
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My current employer is OK, you can take training courses but they have to be at night or on weekends. They pay for the course, not the travel. I am lucky however that one of our subsidiaries is a IT trainign school. Every training expirience is offset by a somewhat lengthy time requirement. e.g They paid for a MCSE/DBA course for me, but I had to stay for 2 years.
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I've been in IT 23+ years, most of them as a DBA. After my first 2 employers (years 1 through 4 in my career), every successive one has offered and paid for training. Everyone has had an annual budget, travel/lodgin and meals as well as being paid while on traiing. Of course they would opt for local courses (Chicago metro area) over more distant locations. But if no suitable local courses were available then you'd travel. One additional point about training 'budgets' ... All of my employers that had them usually would exceed them based on technology needed or job/client demands. So what I'm saying is that instead of just taking just a SQL Admin 5 day course (that ate up the training budget), you'd also take the 5 SQL Performance Tuning course as well. This was deemed a 'wise' investment in the staff to benefit the company.
Now here's what has happened at my present employer (on board with them August 2004):
- 2004 - Oracle DBA training - local, meals and transporation paid
- 2004 - Oracle Perfomance Tuning - far out local, hotel, meals and transporation paid
- 2004 - Numerous webcasts from MS and MSDN (at least 20)
- 2005 - Updating SQL Server skills to SQL 2005 - local, meals and transporation paid
- 2005 - SRS Administration - local, meals and transporation paid
- 2005 - Numerous webcasts from MS and MSDN (at least 30)
- 2006 - Application specific (time clock vendor interface) training - , hotel, meals and transporation paid
Now this year's training budget is out (2006) but it might seem that I've already used 50% of the allocated for training on application specific training. But my employer says it no. This is one of those exceptions that adds value, so I've still got my allocated training budget intact.
I still attend webcasts, and subscribe (read and digest) a couple of e-rags a day and participate in a discussion board or two for additional learning. I might not post every day, but just reading and analyzing what others have posted (problems, solutions and the discussions thereof) is actually one of the most beneficial forms of learning that I have found to date. Do I read books, yes, sometimes when needed. Read white papers, you betcha ! Browse other user groups - yup (I'm not just MS/SQL). This is all a part of my daily routine - self learning. It's just like reading your email in the morning, something you do that is a good habit.
RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."
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We get 3000 USD a year, it would be nice if it were enough for a cert or upgrade a degree. If you are going to do training, do more than spray a bunch of verbage all over everyone. It is more important for the student to understand and use the material, than get a big manual and piece of paper that lays around somewhere.
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I'd say that if you are waiting for your company to pay for your training then you've got it all wrong. You should invest the time and money in yourself to make you valuable to the company you work for. If it doesn't work out, then you and your training can take a walk.
On the other hand, companies that don't budget for training are not investing in their biggest asset, their employees. Constant training makes their employees happier, smarter, and better.
So both the employee and the employer have an insentive to pay for training.
In my case, I just finished my accounting degree. I took the initiative to get the degree because I design accounting software. In the long run, both my employer and I will benifit from the training and as such, they paid for part of it, and I paid for the rest. Although, I ended paying up for the bulk of the training and if I want, I can now change to another company if I see fit without feeling like I owe something to my employer for training me.
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I suppose that I have been pretty spoilt.
I have only had two jobs in my 20 years of working.
The navy and a university.
Both have been excellent at training.
I actually spent about 30% of my military career in a classroom.
The navy has a return of service obligation (ROSO) for all overseas courses or long or attractive courses... ie university degrees. The general rule is : length of course Plus one year as the return obligation.
More recently at the uni, we get 4 hours study per week and can get a futher 8 hours (a week) off twice a year for exam study. There is no ROSO at the university.
The uni has an excellent staff training course list and we are of course encouraged to take part in this free(to the person and their department at least) in-house training.
External training is normally budget limited, but is ultimately granted if it is deemed a mandatory requirement to complete your normal daily tasks.
When are you opening up an OZ shop??!
Gavin Baumanis
Smith and Wesson. The original point and click device.
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I expect that a company I work for to help me keep my skills and knowledge to an acceptable level. We do pay for training, but it is not as easy as it used to be.
Some managers are attempting to require that their FTE's take training provided at lower cost over the internet. I have taken some of these classes and think they are almost worthless, but that may just be me (not just a visual learner) and/or the provider (possibly not the best, just the cheapest).
I like to think of employees as an asset of the company. Assets have upkeep and other costs associated with them. You don't throw away a tool that you have paid $500k for over the past X years just because it became dull -- you pay to re-sharpen it.
Regards,
Joe
Joe Johnson
NETDIO,LLC. -
I work for a small (12,000 customer) phone company in Rural California. We do sign training contracts. My previous employer mandataed you stayed a year after you went to training. My current employer, mandates a two year stay or you owe money back. Also, you won't get a merrit increase if you don't attend training. Some employees though, these rules don't appear to apply to them. Though I don't have a problem with training contracts, I do have a problem with non-standard application of the rules. As a result, I'm not as likely to go to training as I once use to. The exemptions to the favored few are issued by the President of the company. Yes, I've talked to the HR manager and they have told me her hands are tied.
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I work for a state government agency and the IT division has a set budget for a 2 year budget period. All training requests are prioritized by division management money allocated accordingly. My data management group has had pretty good luck getting our training requests approved.
There are no requirements to stay after training, but I don't think we'd be able to justify vendor certification courses and tests. The agency pays for training, travel, and expenses. I don't think we'd get approval for training in Orlando unless we could prove that we couldn't get equivalent training closer to home.
Greg
Greg
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I work for a large company that does managed services for clients mainly in the UK
Most of my studies these days are to keep my Microsoft certifications (MCSD, MCDBA) up to date. In that way I have some visible "proof" that I did it. I also read many whitepapers, free PDFs and books even if they are only indirectly related to my work. Although the cost in money is significant, the study cost is in hours of personal time is much, much greater. It is the personal satisfaction that keeps me going.
I am allowed to claim study books on expenses provided I can justify them for the job I am currently doing - i.e. not for learning new skills that I think will be useful in the future.
The company would also pay for the odd course but I find that I do not learn very well in a classroom setting, especially if I have to share a computer with someone else. It usually goes too fast for me when I am not familiar with the tools used, and I prefer to study at home anyway.
I am allowed to claim certification exam fees on expenses, but not things I buy from Transcender.
I have no time for study at work - I am being micro-managed by a the person who sits next to me so I cannot easily sneak in the odd study hour.
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"I have no time for study at work - I am being micro-managed by a the person who sits next to me so I cannot easily sneak in the odd study hour."
I realise it is easier (much easier) said than done....
But sounds to me like you need a new employer!
Gavin Baumanis
Smith and Wesson. The original point and click device.
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Since we are on the training subject, does anyone know which training company offers SQL Server 2005 training classes for more advance SQL developers and DBA. I looked at a lot of training classes. They are very basic. I am looking for more in depth training for management studio, integrated service, business intelligence and analysis services.
Thanks
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