[Gllug] Graduates paying for IT training before employment

[Steve Nelson]

On 6/1/05, Martyn Drake <martyn at drake.org.uk> wrote:
> Steve Nelson wrote:
> 
> > Dunno.  We do a lot of training.  Until recently this was all paid for
> > up-front by the company.  The accountants have spotted this, and now
> > require employees to pay for their training and then expense it.  The
> > idea, presumably, being that people will either not bother at all, or
> > forget to claim.  I think its also designed to ensure a higher 'pass'
> > rate - if the employee has to pay for the exam themselves, they'd
> > better be sure they'll pass first time.
> 
> Throughout my entire career I've never been on any training courses.

I should clarify.  We don't do so many training courses.  The company
does, however, encourage people to obtain professional certification
in their areas of expertise.  This is, I think, less about the value
of the qualification to the employer than it is about badges for the
sales droids to show to their prospects.

> When I set-up a local ISP in Norwich I did it by myself through
> reading books, experimenting and a little help from the ISP providing
> us with the connectivity and a few other contacts.  And that's how
> I've got through these things since.

I think that's how most of us have learned.  My experience of training
courses has not been that great, but I think I've ranted about this
elsewhere, so won't recite.

> There has been much talk about courses for this in the companies I've
> worked for since and regardless of whatever company I've worked for
> the net result has been that there hasn't been enough money, not
> enough staff to cover, there's no need and so on.

Probably quite rightly.

> I reckon I must have spent a fortune on training myself through books
> over the past ten years and buying/hiring equipment and software and
> teaching myself to use it.  But I think it's been worth it.

I think you raise a very intersting point.  For the cost of a
'professional course' one could set up a lab with some test kit and
allow people to learn by doing.  This is especially valuable in an
environment such as mine where most of the machines I admin are in a
production environment and aren't really the sort of systems on which
you can learn by trial and error.

> M.

S.
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