Tim, previously: >Have any of you ever had to justify training expenses for yourself to >your company (ROI, etc.)? I'm getting close to taking the big .NET >step, and would welcome information both on justification of training >and specific .NET-related training experiences.
David replied: I will be surprised if your employer does not have periods of paid training during each working year. This is so common now that it might be worthwhile talking to HR to find out if such a policy exists, even if it isn't well known. There used to be a fear that, if companies trained people, they would leave. Now, people tend to leave if they can't get regular training, especially in the ICT area. I should have answered this properly. There is no sound basis for calculating ROI on training. It is just an expense, without any real possibility of a return. This is especially true in those companies that allow their employees to have 'shot-in-the-dark' training, where an employee will book training that is not directly related to their current work. Tim: And I should have given a little more information. The company does in fact provide for one week per year of paid training for me...except it's rather assumed that I will spend it at TechEd every year (which I don't mind at all and I think is a good investment on their part). I am the first/only programmer this company has hired so they don't really have a set policy. After doing quite a bit of online research and talking to people from two national training centers, I'd have to agree with your statement that there is no sound basis for calculating ROI on training - in fact, the gentleman from Wintellect is in the process of trying to figure out how to do it at all. Most of the problem is that a calculated ROI depends on thorough assessments of both before and after the training, and neither one is performed in the real developer world...it's expected to be a "cost of doing business" expense instead. My conclusion at this time is that I can't justify the expense for now...the standard tools I've been using will suffice for the next year. I'm aware of the tendency for people to leave if not regularly trained; the lack of training is perceived by the developer as a lack of interest in their professional development. I'm feeling the same thing, although I'm aware that part of the problem is the tight economy. I'm also getting wildly varying reports about the .NET adoption rate. A local training shop says that outside of two local firms that have international interests, the .NET adoption rate is very slow here (central U.S.). In fact they only get a trickle of developers for their .NET classes. To listen to the MS hype I'd think everyone except me is already well-studied in .NET and successfully using it to deploy galaxy-wide killer app solutions. Tim <somewhat bummed> ____ • The WDVL Discussion List from WDVL.COM • ____ To Join wdvltalk, Send An Email To: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Send Your Posts To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change subscription settings to the wdvltalk digest version: http://wdvl.internet.com/WDVL/Forum/#sub ________________ http://www.wdvl.com _______________________ You are currently subscribed to wdvltalk as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
