How to do professional development WITHOUT vacay RE: Certification--a new concept. Discuss

["Wilcox, Rose" <rwilcox -at- ssqi -dot- com>]

> I can see both sides of the coin as well, but I happen to work for a 
> company where I only get two weeks of sick/vacation time combined.  As 
> a single mom with two kids (one who has medical problems), I do not 
> have an extra day to spend on personal development or taking a 
> vacation - all of my time during any given year is taken as time to 
> spend with my sick son.

Yes, I watched the discussion of this luxury -- vacation time -- with some amusement.  (BTW, The word "vacation" in the subject line makes one's post get rejected, apparently).  

At least it's good to HAVE vacation time.  When my kid was little, I was a consultant, not having any vacation time.  For me career development was:
- Reading books about career-related subjects
- Keep up with periodicals in fields of interest
- Later in my career, reading websites of interest (free!)
- Volunteering to do tasks on the job that stretched my skills
- Any freebie training I could get my hands on (rare and far between but much appreciated)

Although my child is grown, I still tend to train and think like this.  Although I make more money now and have less outgo (or do I? I wonder sometimes with my mother ill and my daughter in college) than I did in those days, if I had the money for a long vacation, I would probably still use it for family or friends or leisure.... but I always like to "keep my hand in" and stay on top of new trends or at least, those I am particularly interested in.  I also have certain career directions I'm interested in and do have a willingness to put in some spare time in training.  

I think I would take local classes rather than spending a great deal of money and time going out of state, though.

I would love to hear other ideas on this subject -- cheaper and less time consuming ways to develop professionally for single parents or others who have lots of obligations outside of work.

> 
> If I could just talk my company into caring about my personal 
> development, maybe I could better my skills during the other 50 weeks in the year.

I don't have that luxury so much, not being captive, but this also seems like a good subject to chime in on.  Anyone have any luck doing this -- that is, convincing your company to outlay dough or time as an investment in one's personal or career development?

______________________
Rose A. Wilcox
Senior Technical Writer
480-586-2645
480-580-0530 (cell)
Rwilcox -at- ssqi -dot- com
Writing is the hardest work in the world not involving heavy lifting. - Pete Hamill 


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