The Real Cost of Training

As with anything else, money is likely to play a factor in what study method you choose. At first glance, it may seem like self-study is the lowest cost option of the various methods of training, but you may be surprised at just how quickly the study guides, CBTs, and equipment costs add up. What you need to do before making a decision is calculate what exactly the costs of each training method is. Doing a mathematical calculation does not produce a definitive answer, but we'll talk about that later.

Let's start by looking at the obvious things. Course fees can be expensive and in some cases are payable in advance. If you are going to be using a bank loan or another interest charging mechanism to pay for your studies, consider what paying a lump sum up front may mean in terms of interest payments. Some organizations allow the payment of fees on a monthly or semester basis. If you are studying over a number of years, paying for your study in this way can save money on interest payments.

As well as course fees and training materials, you should figure the extra expenses that will be involved in your training. For certification programs, the cost of the exams can be surprisingly high. In addition, the costs in terms of lost wages from a part-time job or those paid out in travel expenses to travel to the testing center should be figured in (which may not necessarily be the same place that you took your training). Don't forget to budget for travel to and from your place of study if taking a course away from home. These travel costs can start to build rapidly if your training involves staying away from home overnight or paying expensive city parking rates. Basically, as far as the costs go, you really need to sit down and list all of the costs you can possibly think of, and then add them up.



Even after you have done this figuring, you should also consider the hidden cost of training.Consider this scenario. Presuming that you are going to be looking for employment as soon as you finish studying, the length of time it takes to complete your training becomes a factor. Assuming that once you complete your studies you can make a salary of $30,000 per year, if the course of study takes six months to complete, it is actually costing $15,000 in lost earnings. On the other hand, if your course of study takes the entire year to complete, then you can add $30,000 to the total cost of your training expense. In essence, working with this strategy allows you to work out which training method costs the least money, or on a more positive note, which offers the best value for money.

To work out the cost in your case, calculate what your total training costs are likely to be, and then find out what a reasonable expectation of your earnings will be. You can do this by looking at job advertisements in local newspapers, reviewing job sites on the Internet, and by speaking to employment agencies.Then do the calculation as described, and you should have an idea of the sorts of figures in question.

The nature of the IT industry means that nowadays there are few surprises to be had. Companies announce products months, or in some cases, years before they become available. Even once they are available, the nature of business computing dictates that not everyone is going to switch to a new technology at the drop of a hat. Whatever the size of the company, change has to be planned and implemented over a period of time, and that is the case only if the company chooses to use the product or technology in the first place.

The key to predicting short term change in the industry is simply that of keeping your eyes and ears open keeping up on what is going on. Then you need to interpret what you learn, looking at how it may or may not affect you. Let's look at an example.You decide to attend a course in computer networking at your local technical college. The course is slated to run for a full year, which means that you will be entering the workforce in July the following year. By reading the computer press and doing some investigations on the Internet, you find that a major software company is releasing a new version of its popular network operating system in June next year. The college is unlikely to be including anything to do with the new product in the curriculum, because there are no concrete details as to what the new features of the product will be, and it would also be highly unlikely that the instructor would be suitably qualified and experienced to teach the new product.You have to figure out how you are going to deal with this change by deciding a plan of action. Given that you are going to spend much of the next year doing intensive study, adding to the burden by trying to learn a new product at the same time as the current one may be a tall order.You may decide that when you finish your college course, you will take some additional training, or you may elect to do nothing formal at all, working on the principle that companies will be unlikely to upgrade in the months that first follow a new product release.

Even if you do nothing, the fact is that you are fully aware of what is occuring in the industry as a whole, which is an intergral part of working in the IT industry. Knowing what is going on can prevent those demoralizing moments when you find out three weeks into a year long course that much of the information you are going to learn will be obsolete two years from now.

Although it may seem like a continual burden, upgrading your skills offers a unique opportunity, because companies that decide to upgrade will often seek out individuals who have knowledge and experience in both areas. Although perhaps not a role a first-time job holder may be suitable for, it's worth noting for future reference.