RE: Training - who gets it? How useful?

["Robart, Kay" <Kay -dot- Robart -at- tea -dot- state -dot- tx -dot- us>]

I work for a state agency, so things are different than in industry. I
have gone to three leader-lead work-related classes since I started here
five years ago, but I don't often find classes that are very useful to
me since I have a lot of experience and the classes of interest are
usually out-of-town. The state doesn't pay for travel or hotels.
However, employees in other positions can attend one or more classes a
year. Sometimes these are onsite classes that have been arranged by
management and certain people are asked to attend or provided the
opportunity to sign up. In addition, our in-house training staff give
several classes a week on basic computer skills, management techniques,
etc. Those are free, and usually we can attend them if we are interested
and our management approves. Finally, some divisions in the agency
regularly give classes to help staff understand complex legal issues,
for example. These classes are large lectures and are heavily attended.

We also have classes that are mandated for everyone to take once a year.
These classes are web-based.

Sometimes these classes are available to contractors, but the
contractors or their companies have to pay for them. Other times, all
the slots are taken by full-time staff, so contractors are not invited
to attend.

The last class I took was on Adobe LiveCycle, and it was useful.

I don't go to industry events except for the occasional STC conference.

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+kay -dot- robart=tea -dot- state -dot- tx -dot- us -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+kay -dot- robart=tea -dot- state -dot- tx -dot- us -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]
On Behalf Of McLauchlan, Kevin
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 1:20 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Training - who gets it? How useful?

A remark by Bill in that other thread (may it now rest in peace) 
reminded me about a related issue.

In this age of canned webinars and downloadable self-paced 
product learning, we still see ads (in Techwr-l advert posts 
among other places) for in-person, hands-on-and-lecture training. 

How many of y'all make use of such training? 

Do companies pay for that sort of thing for employees any more? 
(I haven't seen that personally since the tech bust.) 

Regardless of the mode of training, for a software tool or a 
workflow, if it costs money, and especially if it requires 
travel, who is more likely to take it:

 - captive corporate employees

 - contractors (various flavors of self-employed) ?? 

If it's job-related - i.e., maybe how to use or get more 
out of the HATT you use every day - are you more likely to 
undertake such training on company time (whether at your 
desk via web or at a hotel conference room somewhere), 
or on your own time?  And dime?  

Also, do many of y'all attend industry-specific events 
(not TW stuff, but rather for the industry of the company 
that employs you) like trade shows and conferences?


Kevin McLauchlan
Senior Technical Writer
SafeNet, Inc.

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