do you pay for training?

[WKnight]

How many of you pay for your own training, and how often?

In my 15 years as a contractor, I paid for one C++ training course and attended one Outlook course paid for by a client. (and btw, I was never out of work for more than a couple of months without wanting to be)

Is that a typical training plan?

William Knight
Warning: Answers to this thread may be quoted on the front page.

[Ardesco]

I would have to say thatI have looked into training on many occasions, but I have not yet had the downtime to actually go and do it. When I hit the stage where I can't find a gig and have some time off i'll probably get my arse in gear and do the training i've been meaning to do but otherwise it's not likely to happen.

The industry changes so quickly anyway the best way to get experiance in my particular field is to get a job with a technology when it is new and very few people have any experiance and then build up your experiance that way (taking a role at a lower rate than normal is usually the way to do this)

[BoredBloke]

Training in the UK is a con. As a contractor you pay the full price for the course yet the likes of EDS etc get massive discounts. Also, since you are not working you are actually spending double once you have shelled out for the course.

[swamp]

I do all the training I need in my spare time, on the train or at work at quiet times. Simply buy the books, read up the subject and maybe take a certification.

[Mordac]

The only one I paid for was an MCSE boot camp (£6K) but that was between contracts, about 4 years ago. If I need to brush up on the old skillset, I try the P2P freebies first.

[Viktor]

I've done Cisco courses in the past, when I was a permie...
Now I find more useful to attend conferences and technical presentations to catch up the market and to get a general picture...After several years of experience, you just find a waste of time to do "training sessions" like a normal employee. As a contractor, you need the ability to learn fast, understand quickly and later forget in a second...When you have a fair amount of experience it's easy to switch to another area, but you need to be aware that life as a contractor isn't linear. Sometimes you need to digest several books in just one week, sometimes you have spare time for posting in this crappy forum...

[boredsenseless]

The area that I work in requires certification and therefore the only way to get work is to attend the training.

However I agree that most training is a con, a lot of it is pay-up, turn-up get the certificate with little substance in between these steps.

[Ardesco]

After seeing what everybody else is posting I guess I should clarify that when you talk about training I would not take that to mean going on a training course, more along the lines of getting the literature from a training course, or other literature that is relevant and earning it yourself and then going for the exam.

The exam costs are enough and most things can be passed with a bit of cramming.

[BoredBloke]

I did my princs 2 foundation bit a while ago. The instructor said that he had a 100% pass rate - a bit like a levels then

[Viktor]

Certification is another issue...In some sectors definitely you must have one...I've renewed my CCNP in September last year, didn't bother to do the same with MCSE 2000 but it's still valid. So again, depends...