Training - who gives a fuuhhhh...

[Bovvered]

Reading another thread, which touched on the training topic which raises its head every now and again, I thought about training. It is often touted as a positive aspect of permiedom, but I'm thinking, "Training? Who gives f***?"

In 5/6 years (3 jobs) as a permie I went on two courses. One was a waste of time the other was pretty decent. In 3 years as a contractor (4 contracts) I have not been on a course.

Now, I would say that my skills are mostly self taught. I moved from Access to SQL Server, I taught myself. I moved from COM/VB to .Net/C#, I taught myself. I learned Win API, I taught myself, I learned web programming, I taught myself. I learned InstallShield, I taught mysef. I learned...you get the gist.

What more do you need than a computer or two and the internet?

[s2budd]

Training - Good idea or not

Attending a training course depends on what it is about.
All very well if you are a programmer - then all you need is to buy a book, and buy or obtain the software and then off you go.

The problem is what if your chosen subject is something else that is not possible to actually do - hands -on at home / in the office such as large Unix Enterprise servers or manaagement skills. Then training comes into it's own.

Also, if you have no experience in a new subject then flashing a few training certificates can get you the gig.