CWNP Wireless Certification & Wireless Training - If You Think Education is Expensive, Try Ignorance.

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If You Think Education is Expensive, Try Ignorance.

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Written by Devin Akin

Monday, 21 July 2008

If we do not pay for education, we pay for the lack of it in a myriad of ways...

* We pay for it right up front when our customer loses confidence in our sales person when he/she uses terminology in the wrong way or tries to sell a wrong solution because he/she didn't think that they needed a basic understanding of the technology they're selling.

* We pay for it when we have to revisit a customer's site to redo a site survey or a Wi-Fi install that should have been done right the first time.

* We pay for it when everyone at the company is working many long hours, but for some "unknown" reason, many deals are lost and revenue is down.

* We pay for it when key employees walk out the door because the company won't invest in their future.

Sure, it can cost a considerable amount of money to train high-tech professionals. There's the cost of the training itself, the time away from production work, the travel expenses...but there are alternatives. Self-study materials, online (web-based) training, Computer-Based Training (CBT), etc.

Just think how much a lost deal could cost. Think about how much a tarnished reputation could cost. Think about how much losing a key employee (or two) will costs. For the price of those, you could fund a huge training budget.

Recently, one particular Wi-Fi manufacturer has realized just how true these statements are, and they are doing something about it. I'm personally eager to see just how much market share they are going to take due to this education push. I applaud their foresight.

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written by David P. Ruane, July 28, 2008

Part of the issue with companies not wishing to pay for training is the fear that the staff will then move to more lucrative employment taking their "new" skills and qualifications with them. Most company`s should be in a position to have staff sign an agreement prior to the training whereby the staff will then commit to the company for an agreed period of time - the company then maximise`s its training investment.
For some reason, many HR officers feel that this is impractical in that they (the HR staff) believe that either the now trained staff member should not be "forced" to sign something that inpinges on their wish to take new employment, or that this agreement has no standing in legal terms.

Suffice to say - I`d be more willing to stay with an employer that invested in me, regardless of what I had to sign, than stay with an employer that left all the running (and costs) for me to bear.

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written by Vlad, July 31, 2008

Switching costs - time and money required to find, get and move to a new job - are high for employees. I don't know anyone who would move if their employer invested in training and paid them a market wage. Sometimes employees move to acquire new skills and keep themselves marketable in the future.

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