Do you pay for your own training?

[NotAllThere]

Removed advice that was here, as its just a bloody sales pitch.... GAAH!

Borderline, so we let it through. Apart from that, there are contractors who sell training.

[psychocandy]

No tulip sherlock. It costs us money to be away from billing to do it or we do it while we are on the bench and the cost of the course hits us personally hard be it through the company or not. A £2k course put against tax is still a hard hit to the contractors pocket. We have to be picky.

As NLUK says, has anyone ever been on a training course that they'd be happy to shell out of their own pocket (even minus tax). £2K is a lot of dosh which can buy a lot of manuals/books...

Would rather sit at home for the week, spend £100 on books, download trial software or whatever.

I always get bored on course as well and find them too easy and you always get some dull twat sat at the back who slows everyone else down. Usually female! ;-)

[redgiant]

I got my PRINCE2 practitioner and ITILv3 foundation (all when I was a permie) and since then there are no courses that would help me secure more roles ... experience > training.

Since becoming a contractor have been taking a few Microsoft technical exams over the past few years (which were free and you can schedule them to take place when you're on the bench). All of them so far have been basic multiple choice exams so pretty useless in gauging if someone is actually any good with the product.

[Old Greg]

Prince2 is all I've done and I did self study on the train. Not paying café prices.

[squarepeg]

I really appreciate your comments. I think I'll go for plan B and turn my course into an on-line resource. That way I'll have more time for other things and my course materials will help more people.

Thanks, guys!

[Mr.Whippy]

As NLUK says, has anyone ever been on a training course that they'd be happy to shell out of their own pocket (even minus tax). £2K is a lot of dosh which can buy a lot of manuals/books...

Yes, I've spent about £5k in the last 12 months on training courses. And plan to do at least another 2 courses in the next 12 months.

[SueEllen]

I really appreciate your comments. I think I'll go for plan B and turn my course into an on-line resource. That way I'll have more time for other things and my course materials will help more people.

Thanks, guys!

I was about to add that thanks to the internet and especially mailing lists the vast majority of training courses aren't worth it.

Though I do laugh at some of the "interesting" questions asked on some mailing lists.

[cojak]

I was about to add that thanks to the internet and especially mailing lists the vast majority of training courses aren't worth it.

Though I do laugh at some of the "interesting" questions asked on some mailing lists.

Mailing lists??

I receive a training mailing list but that was 1998, pre-internet for me.

[SueEllen]

Mailing lists??

I receive a training mailing list but that was 1998, pre-internet for me.

Email mailing lists like google groups.

Useful when you find a bug which is actually a bug not a mistake you've made.

Though you do get certain Nationalities who think they are a way of getting their homework/work done for them.

Edited to say: Yes they could use proper bug tracking software but not everyone does.

[nomadd]

Though you do get certain Nationalities who think they are a way of getting their homework/work done for them.

I used to be a Moderator for three Discussion Groups that covered the Sun Java Certifications in 1999.

I found that besides myself, there were only 2-3 other active contributors. Looking at the site stats showed another 500+ leachers, who made zero contribution to the discussions and simply stole our hard work. I resigned the position pronto and contacted 2 of the other good posters; we finished off all our certifications privately, simply using email for discussion. As you say, "certain Nationalities" made up 99% of those 500+ leachers.

Mind you, those same leachers are probably all working in the UK for corporates these days - or at least they seem to be based on the surroundings in my last few roles.