— I want to advance and take Cisco CCNA courses, then I will be able to restructure the network to make it cheaper and more reliable, supporting it at a new level. Can you help with the payment? — said the sysadmin, who has worked for 7 years, looking at the director.
— I'll teach you, and then you’ll leave. Am I a fool? Go on, work, — sounds like the expected response.
The sysadmin goes to his place, opens the forum, Toster, Habr, and reads how to configure routing on a network made of sticks and stones from practically museum equipment. Feeling a bit disheartened, but okay — I can save money for training and pay for it myself. Or maybe it’s really time to leave? The neighbors just got a new Cisco...
Have you ever been in such a situation? Training during work, organized by the company or initiated by the employee, is in my opinion one of the most productive forms: the employee already knows exactly what they want from the course, how to evaluate information, and how to use it. This is the case when a six-month course can be more beneficial than the entire university experience combined. Today we will talk about courses, corporate universities, mentorship, and the most useless form of education. Pour yourself some hot tea, sit in front of the monitor, and let’s choose the form and/or format of training together.
Tease your reflexes — keep learning!
This is the fourth part of the series "Live to Learn":
Part 4. Education Within Work
Part 5. Self-Education
Share your experiences in the comments — perhaps, thanks to the efforts of the RUVDS team and Habr readers, someone’s education will become a bit more conscious, correct, and fruitful.
So, university, master’s program, and maybe even a PhD are behind you, and now you're at work. The daily routine has already taken hold, approaches to tasks have formed, you get paid bi-weekly, and the nearest prospects are fairly clear. What motives might drive you to engage in serious education again? There are plenty of motives.
- The desire to change fields to get a better job, earn more, learn a new profession, etc.
- The need to upgrade skills for your current job, either to grow vertically or shift horizontally; to change jobs.
- The need to acquire new knowledge, to explore a different field — for example, in cases where the wrong university was finished, the wrong job was chosen, or there is a sense of career and intellectual stagnation, etc.
- Emotional reasons (for companionship, out of interest, out of boredom, etc.). This is often the most controversial motivation, as in this case the perpetual student lacks a goal and specific planning. In defense of this group of learners, it can be said that often during their studies they become absorbed and enthusiastically engage in work in the new specialty.
We , now let's discuss alternative options that save time (but not money) and allow you to learn something new in the shortest time possible.
Training related to work but not within it
▍Part-time and evening courses
Maximally similar to the traditional university format: in the evenings you attend lectures and practical sessions for 3-3.5 hours, where instructors help you master new material. There are no unnecessary non-specialized subjects in these courses, and the participants are working professionals like you, meaning you can also make new and sometimes valuable connections.
Advantages
- Typically, the instructors in such courses are practitioners, which means they provide material to the extent that it will be useful for you in actual work. Some skills can be applied from the very first days.
- Classes are held in the evening 2-3 times a week and do not interfere with work (if you have to deal with traffic jams, arrange to come to work a bit earlier on study days and leave accordingly as well).
- You solve practical problems with peers who are professionals, thus additionally absorbing thinking patterns, applying teamwork skills, and receiving additional information from classmates.
- Groups in courses are usually small, and each student receives significant attention from the instructor regarding both answering questions and practical work.
- If the courses are tied to any corporation, upon completion you may receive a job offer in the specialty acquired — and if you're just stepping into IT, this is a fantastic opportunity (for example, in our group of 9 people, one received an offer immediately, three agreed to join the company after completing the training, and three received offers but declined).
Cons
- The courses are quite expensive.
- University courses may be filled with non-core subjects and taught by theorists who only work part-time after regular lectures.
- You may suddenly find yourself lacking educational background (for example, during my studies in the 'Software Development' program, I lacked math knowledge, so I had to first break down tasks mathematically and then solve them programmatically).
- You might encounter outdated materials (like mastering Windows Server 2008 and PCs running XP in 2018?), so having a laptop, funds for licenses, or the ability to find something slightly pirated but up-to-date for learning purposes can be very helpful 🙂.
What to pay attention to
- Carefully study the course program and the number of hours, find out what is included in the training and what form of final assessment you will face at the end (ranging from nothing to defending a full diploma project in English).
- Ask the methodologist who your instructor is, what their experience is, and whether they are a practitioner.
- Inquire about the possibility of installment payments or dividing the payment into periods — as a rule, this form of payment is less burdensome.
- If there is an entrance exam or interview, don’t try to avoid it; make sure to go through it — this will help you evaluate your preparedness level and allow you to ask important questions.
- If the course includes English, don’t try to subtract its cost from the training fee (as you already know it). It is during foreign language classes that you develop close connections with the group, which is very important — often classmates invite each other to work.
- Find out if a certificate of completion is provided and in what format (any paper with a seal and signature is required).
▍Corporate universities
An interesting training format available to both internal company employees and external listeners. You can study at the company itself, its accredited training center, or at a partner department of a basic university (for example, HSE or your state university). Additionally, you receive part-time or evening education in a chosen specialized field (information security, communication systems, software development, project management, 1C programming, etc.).
Advantages
- This is a great way to get to know the company and the instructors (who are usually no lower than middle-level professionals) and to try to get a job there. Moreover, sometimes this is the only straightforward way to enter the company, demonstrating your potential during the training.
- 90% of the instructors in the corporate university are practitioners. You are not just learning; you are solving real-world problems that the instructor had to tackle as a manager or technician.
- A comfortable learning environment means you are effectively on equal footing with the instructor, as both are managers from different companies.
Cons
- In your company, managers may not appreciate the benefits of training within someone else's corporate university.
- Instructors may provide information tailored to the patterns and issues of their own company; there’s a chance that some content may be irrelevant or inapplicable to you.
If, however, a company employee is studying at the corporate university affiliated with the course, there are several advantages (discounts on training, presence near their workstation, attention from colleagues and management, easily applicable knowledge, and a clear model for career advancement), with one downside — it can be challenging to see your colleagues as instructors.
▍Distance Courses and Online Learning
You gain access to educational resources (videos, lectures, notes, books, sometimes entire libraries, code repositories, and more) and can study either at a convenient time or at a specified time without leaving your workplace (or personal PC). You have a 'classy' job, the opportunity to communicate with the instructor (via chat or Skype), and assignments, but most often you don’t know how many students are in the course, who your peers are, and communication with 'classmates' can turn into mere chatter.
Advantages
- Saving effort and time on commuting and preparations.
- A convenient and familiar learning format.
- You can study right at work or immediately after it in the office (if there aren’t any strict time management, action logging, tough security service, or snitching colleagues. You can't, basically.)
- You can choose a comfortable work pace and clarify any unclear moments right there on the internet, on Toster, on Habr, on StackOverflow, etc.
Cons
- High motivation and self-organization are required, as this is more about self-education than learning with a traditional mentor.
- There is no live communication during the learning process.
- It's very difficult to verify the instructor and confirm if it's the one who was announced in the course description.
- There's a risk of making a wrong course choice — there are so many currently that it's really hard not to miss and actually end up in a quality online school (even large corporations can have failures).
- Minimal job placement opportunities — if you don’t demonstrate outstanding abilities (and how will you do that online?), the only thing to rely on is getting your resume into the databases of partner companies' HRs, who may call if necessary.
What to pay attention to
- On the form of certification and the conditions for receiving a paper signed certificate with a seal (often you need to pay extra for it).
- Payment terms and the urgency of access to course materials (ideally, this should be lifetime access).
- On student reviews on social media and independent platforms (they are usually moderated on the website).
- On the format of interaction with the instructor (ideally, this should be a chat + assignment review with students, preferably with prior submission of homework).
Since in the beginning of the series "Live a Century — Learn a Century" we agreed on a certain subjectivity in our reviews, I will say that I approach online learning formats with caution. It's daunting to pay considerable amounts for unknown content. There are so many excellent and truly accessible courses in all areas of IT knowledge available online, that I believe it’s better to invest time in acquiring such knowledge. Moreover, most employers are quite skeptical about the certifications from online schools, while real skills and theoretical knowledge have always been beneficial. For instance, thanks to my exceptional theoretical understanding of the OSI network model, I was able to secure my first job in IT — becoming a testing engineer (at age 27, without a technological background). The decision is ultimately yours, but I personally prefer 0.5-1-1.5 year courses with offline attendance.
▍Training and Workshops
A good training format, provided it is not about personal development workshops and other trendy business fads. These are short, intensive courses, where the instructor helps deepen your knowledge in a familiar area and provides a brief practical course.
They last from 3 hours to several days. I won't discuss the pros and cons — the main thing is that it shouldn't be an advertisement for yet another product. Check the sponsors, verify the organizers, and look at reviews of the speaker before proceeding. Sometimes, it’s very interesting to attend a training or workshop outside your field — for example, it can help you better understand your colleagues.
Forms of Learning Within the Workplace
This is a very important block that cannot be overlooked. I have diverse experience in company-sponsored training, and I think it's worth discussing because companies position this as their competitive advantage in HR PR, while employees hope for results.
▍Mentorship and Guidance
How do newcomers feel on their first working days at your company? Do they sit at a vacant desk nervously fiddling with their welcome packet while waiting for their work PC? Are they glued to their phone to avoid making eye contact with colleagues? Or are they comfortably reading through information about their job? Sadly, my experience suggests that the latter scenario is rare. However, there are quite a few companies in the Russian IT sector (even very small ones) that have practices worth emulating: a mentor is assigned to each new employee, who, during their working hours, trains the newcomer in key tasks while showing them the infrastructure (access, servers, equipment, bug tracker, helpdesk, project management system, etc.), introducing them to colleagues, and so on. This way, the new employee quickly integrates into the team alongside their mentor, knows whom to approach, and rapidly grasps the work material. Sometimes, mentorship includes a modular or final exam related to the field, and while this can be a minor stress, it serves as a guarantee for both the employee and the company.
There are several points to understand when organizing mentorship at work.
- Mentors should be compensated for their efforts—either through bonuses or KPIs. Payment shouldn't depend on how long the newcomer has been with the company, but additional bonuses can be given based on the results of the probation period—meaning they effectively trained and engaged the new hire.
- Mentors must be experienced and communicative—sadly, if a super-genius DevOps just throws manuals on the table and links to internal Wiki resources, it won’t be of any help. A communication routine and dialogue must be established between the new employee and the mentor.
- The mentor should be accountable for any mistakes made by their trainee during the training period—for instance, if an inexperienced tester assigns everyone the IP address 127.0.0.0 via DHCP, it is the mentor's responsibility to fix this issue and, at the same time, learn that training should occur in test environments (yes, based on real events, we were trained, and we trained—overall, we never got bored).
- The mentor should act as a guide within the company, providing access, communicating with the system administrator, and introducing the new hires to colleagues from other departments, etc.
- In case of personal animosity or conflict situations, the mentor should be replaced immediately.
- The workload of the mentor during the training period should be reduced and redistributed among other colleagues reasonably.
- A mentor should be assigned to every newcomer, from an intern to a senior, with differences only in approach, timelines, and the volume of information provided. The HR department should ensure that each employee goes through the adaptation process smoothly; otherwise, issues in the work process are inevitable, as each company has its own unique working practices.
Regardless, if you haven't tried implementing a mentoring system within the company, make it your goal for the next month — you'll be surprised by the results of working with new employees.
▍Meetups, lectures, meetings
Arguably, one of the most productive forms of training within the workplace: employees share their achievements, exchange skills, hold product meetings and presentations, and invite colleagues from other companies to share experiences (sometimes even for recruiting). Such meetings have numerous advantages:
- employees learn to understand each other and work as a cohesive team;
- developers speak the same language and exchange solutions that can be safely adopted and applied;
- there's an opportunity to get acquainted with another company's culture and showcase your advantages;
- meetups are free.
The key to a great meetup is preparation: work with the speakers, organize presentations, set up the venue, and be mindful of the topic. The outcome will be enjoyable and beneficial.
How to learn at work?
When you work, the most valuable resource for you is time. This is a challenging period in life, where you need to work, build a career, seize opportunities, establish a family, support your parents, and pursue your interests and hobbies. Therefore, the biggest challenge is finding time for learning, making sure it is focused and effective.
- Stop spending work breaks on tea, coffee, or chatting with colleagues about unrelated topics — dedicate that time to theory and addressing questions that arise during your studies.
- Initiate work discussions with colleagues during lunch and in the break room — often, people enjoy sharing their knowledge in a relaxed setting.
- Read and listen to lectures during traffic jams and while commuting, if applicable.
- Be sure to take notes during the lecture and practice in a notebook; don’t rely on your memory. If something isn’t clear during the lecture, make marginal notes. For example, mark ‘NB’ next to what needs to be reviewed and studied in depth, and ‘?’ next to what needs clarification, you want to ask about, or study independently.
- Never study or do work at night — firstly, you will have a hard time falling asleep, and secondly, everything will be forgotten by morning.
- Study in a quiet environment. If company policy allows (and it usually does in IT), stay an extra hour or so in the office to focus on your studies.
- Don’t study at the expense of your work — such deliberate deception benefits no one.
- If you are learning programming or system administration, it’s not enough just to memorize theory and read articles; you need to practice: write and test code, work with the operating system, and try everything with your own hands.
And perhaps the main piece of advice: don’t approach your studies as you did in student days. Neglecting the education you are paying for, which is aimed at practice, is deceiving yourself.
How to negotiate with management?
If it concerns paid training, it is optimal to pay for it yourself — this way you maintain independence from your employer. If the company pays, you will likely have to either complete a mandatory work period or repay part of the money upon leaving. If you don’t plan on quitting, make sure to talk to your manager about partial or complete coverage of the costs, explaining how your training will be beneficial.
Before the training (not after!), discuss a schedule change or a shift to flexible hours — generally, IT companies are more accommodating in these matters.
The main point is, if you realize that you are not ready to commit the necessary time to your studies and will be focused on work, skipping sessions, etc., it's better not to begin. Perhaps you have already established yourself as a great specialist and just need intellectual stimulation. It’s up to you to decide.
▍Greedy Postscript
And if you've already grown and feel like something is missing for your development, such as a powerful server, , visit — we have plenty of interesting offerings.
Source: habr.com
