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A Move Into Training

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    A Move Into Training

    Hello all,

    Has anyone here transitioned from a tech role into training?

    I ask as I’m in the autumn of my career as a front end focused web developer and I’ve identified that this may be a suitable route for me to follow in order to continue working in the field without suffering the burnout that I feel is otherwise coming my way.

    Bit of background, I’ve been working in a lead role essentially on my last 3 contracts with a brief to “bring everyone on the team up to speed” with various front end technologies. Having received several commendations for my results’ I feel this is something I’m pretty good at and I’d like to explore it further.

    I’m thinking more of a classroom based role rather than being in a hands on role as I am at the moment.

    Has anyone made this transition before? Was it a specific targeted approach or was it something you kind of just fell into? I’d be interested to hear your experiences and would gratefully receive any advice.

    #2
    What sort of training? Are you thinking of delivering certificated courses that align to standard, such as vendor certifications, ITIL, LSS, TOGAF, PRINCE2 etc?

    If you are wanting to do those, you will need to have the certs yourself first and to a senior level (if there is a hierarchy).

    Classroom based training isn't really a thing at the moment, most of it is remote delivery.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by ladymuck View Post
      What sort of training? Are you thinking of delivering certificated courses that align to standard, such as vendor certifications, ITIL, LSS, TOGAF, PRINCE2 etc?

      If you are wanting to do those, you will need to have the certs yourself first and to a senior level (if there is a hierarchy).

      Classroom based training isn't really a thing at the moment, most of it is remote delivery.
      And an awful lot of it (especially in my field) is done on a community level for free

      Even more is done via pluralsight as it's a very cheap way of getting the training.
      merely at clientco for the entertainment

      Comment


        #4
        I transferred from training to tech. It pays more.
        "I can put any old tat in my sig, put quotes around it and attribute to someone of whom I've heard, to make it sound true."
        - Voltaire/Benjamin Franklin/Anne Frank...

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by eek View Post
          And an awful lot of it (especially in my field) is done on a community level for free

          Even more is done via pluralsight as it's a very cheap way of getting the training.
          Yeah, it's not easy to make a living from. People don't value training, much the same way people don't value PC repairs.

          There will always be a paid stream or else the likes of QA wouldn't exist but training is often the first budget companies cut in tough times, driving the free paths you mention.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by eek View Post
            And an awful lot of it (especially in my field) is done on a community level for free

            Even more is done via pluralsight as it's a very cheap way of getting the training.
            There still is paid training and companies are still doing it but everything I've seen or been involved with has been direct from the vendor or certified partners.

            I've never engaged with an unaffiliated third party training company nor do I know anyone/any business that has. I have brought in trainers before but they've always been from companies we are already engaged with. For example if we bring in a new BI product we might pay for a few days training from our partner, that's quite normal.

            Comment


              #7
              As others have already said, training pays you very less compared to a tech role. Quality Training market has been watered down by low quality trainers through online platforms such as Udemy, Teachable, Plurasight, Oreilly, LinuxAcademy, A Cloud Guru, ITProtv, TeamTreehouse (phew..there's plenty) etc. Therefore it has become really very hard to identify high quality trainers.

              If you are good and passionate about training, treat it as a hobby, soul satisfying exercise rather than relying on it as your main source of income.
              Last edited by BigDataPro; 26 December 2020, 11:28.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Gould The Swimmer View Post
                Hello all,

                Has anyone here transitioned from a tech role into training?

                I ask as I’m in the autumn of my career as a front end focused web developer and I’ve identified that this may be a suitable route for me to follow in order to continue working in the field without suffering the burnout that I feel is otherwise coming my way.

                Bit of background, I’ve been working in a lead role essentially on my last 3 contracts with a brief to “bring everyone on the team up to speed” with various front end technologies. Having received several commendations for my results’ I feel this is something I’m pretty good at and I’d like to explore it further.

                I’m thinking more of a classroom based role rather than being in a hands on role as I am at the moment.

                Has anyone made this transition before? Was it a specific targeted approach or was it something you kind of just fell into? I’d be interested to hear your experiences and would gratefully receive any advice.
                Are you close to the action?

                Meaning, are you the second person or third person connected to the inventor of a new technology, framework or operation?

                If you are then there is money to be made, for example, if you were at the very beginning of say Agile SCRUM / Kanban or really close to helping out with Kubernetes, early with NodeJS and TypeScript or Angular and React then you might have a chance.

                Training as in generic training is a lost cause, I think, and other people here have said. Training as in the exciting new product, thing or deliverable then you might have better luck. Training is hard, because the latest and greatest technology is here today and gone tomorrow.

                You could consider the other training route, which is concentrate on non-technical skills because as a rule of thumb it has longer legs, but the trouble guessing what that next best thing is, wet your forefinger and put it out in the wind. Good luck.

                Comment


                  #9


                  There seems to be a generally downbeat reply to this so I just thought I'd mention I moved into training over fifteen years ago from a tecchy / networking type of background and have never looked back. I don't know about the rates for some of the roles mentioned here but I was able to command much better rates in training than the field I was in. I sent myself to college for a year and got a Teacher/Training diploma and picked up work almost immediately. The interesting thing is I never needed to go the MS / ITIL / Prince 2 area (although I did some courses on all) I found myself training on software and in sectors I never even touched before I became a trainer. My most lucrative was picking up skills on a housing package that was being introduced to a social housing corporation. That gave me work for nearly four years and very good £££ about 18 months after when i picked up one of those 'We need someone who knows this. How much do you want?' situations. Something I'd never done previously. I've trained on the census, the MOD (can't tell you about that) and then got into retail and that has given me enough work to see me through to my retirement. I don't know what type of person you are obviously, but training also made me more confident and assertive and it helped me enormously in my life generally. I only wish I'd made the switch before. The only downside I need to report is I was told on Friday by HMRC that most trainers find themselves inside IR35 now but then I don't think anyone will be a lifetime contractor again anyway so good luck with whatever you do.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by pjuk View Post
                    The only downside I need to report is I was told on Friday by HMRC that most trainers find themselves inside IR35 now but then I don't think anyone will be a lifetime contractor again anyway so good luck with whatever you do.
                    In HMRC's eyes if you aren't dead and you work for a single company for more than 2 hours - then you are inside IR35.

                    (I'm joking slightly but HMRC won't tell you the truth as they usually just want you off the phone).
                    merely at clientco for the entertainment

                    Comment

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