What Career or Personal Development Product/Training would you Pay For

philz1982

As the topic says, what career or personal development product/training would you pay for in order to improve your IT career? Think outside certifications. Example, would you pay to be part of a group focused on developing xyz IT skill led by an expert? Would you pay for IT career coaching? I'm just curious what kind of things people are willing to pay for to develop their IT careers.

-Phil

N2IT

Phil SSIS or some sort of data integration training would be fantastic. No certs required just additional knowledge on actually setting up and automating business rules when transforming the data into data warehouses. ***That's just me though.

philz1982

I had a customer today ask me about SQL Queries, I can imagine a quick and dirty course on SQL would be valuable.

Repo Man

I think there is a real niche to teach real world desktop, network and server administration work. A lot of training exists simply to pass cert exams but you have people who have never been inside of a datacenter, racked a server, fixed a printer, taken apart a PC etc.

NetworkNewb

Repo Man wrote: »

I think there is a real niche to teach real world desktop, network and server administration work. A lot of training exists simply to pass cert exams but you have people who have never been inside of a datacenter, racked a server, fixed a printer, taken apart a PC etc.

This ^^ doing real work inside a data center

NetworkNewb

Or how about an empty building where you would show people how to setup a Network in the building from scratch. Wouldn't have to be a huge one.

From installing the equipment to configuring the routers, switches, and access points. I know stuff like this can be done virtually on a computer but to actually set everything up in a live setting would pretty valuable imo.

kurosaki00

Repo Man wrote: »

I think there is a real niche to teach real world desktop, network and server administration work. A lot of training exists simply to pass cert exams but you have people who have never been inside of a datacenter, racked a server, fixed a printer, taken apart a PC etc.

Pretty much this.
How a company network works on the inside. The LAN, mpls to branches, how everything tangles together in the DC, ip helper, sans, blades, etc.
How the network actually works.

kurosaki00

Double post time! (Different idea).

A good training on technical Vizio docs. How to create good technical diagrams and how to obtain that information.

Cyberscum

Mechanical Mind Reader | Gadget & Tech Videos | Discovery Science

But a close second would be to learn pen testing from someone who actually knows ****...Hard to find these days

paul78

Products that I like for my IT career are usually the ones that are broad in nature or can give me exposure to insights in industry.

I like CEB for example and but its really only available only through a company that can afford membership.

For my own personal spending - I have a subscription to Safaribooks. I also have a paid membership to ISACA and IAPP. Recently, I was thinking about getting a Pluralsight subscription but I'm not really into watching videos. I also use HBR (Harvard Business Review) which I recently was thinking about getting a paid subscription.

I too am curious - what resources do others pay for?

pevangel

I would like to learn more about OTN. I've been thinking about L1/L2 solutions to solve our bandwidth problems.

philz1982

Good stuff! Keep it coming!

dave330i

I'll be paying for part of my MBA.

Kai123

I was strongly considering going back to college to do a higher cert in IT Management. It covers briefly on alot of topics I'm not familiar with which I need to know for any future prospects. At the same time, its nothing a book cant fix, but I like a classroom setting.

Otherwise, a good SIP/Pcap session would be great. For personal development, maybe attending IT Events or joining a ethical hacking/IT security hobbyist group. I'm lucky enough to work at an ISP supporting corporate customers, so networking is easy. Maybe even trying to have a small tour of another office and understanding the products they are selling (while using us as a backhaul).