Training is important for any organisation, but it can be hard to justify the time to not only complete a course but find one that’s worthwhile in the first place.

In the past, we have organised some of our staff to run training sessions and share their knowledge with others. That worked for a while, but eventually fell off. The two main reasons we think this happened are:

1. It is very hard to make time to prepare for a training session when you have client work to do.
2. Many people either do not like being the centre of attention and/or being the “expert”.

With David starting his transition into the new Training Manager role, we thought this would be an excellent opportunity to get him to research some courses for the rest of the team. This eliminates the awkwardness of being the centre of attention and allows for staff to complete a lesson when they can fit one in amongst work.

His Findings

After trialling a few providers, David has narrowed it down to the following:

• Microsoft Certifications
• Tim Corey’s resources
  • Both his paid courses
  • And his free ones on YouTube

The trials are not over yet but so far, we are leaning towards the Tim Corey courses as they are more time-efficient and interesting. We currently have two staff doing courses on DevOps, three learning C# intermediate and one learning C# Basic (formerly an Access programmer).

We hope that by giving our staff access to new training materials, it will help keep their skills sharp and their curiosity piqued. Afterall, variety is the spice of life.