Ryan Moseley, Web Application Developer
February 18, 2015
In many companies, employees are asked to train themselves on a variety of technologies and subjects — at their own expense and on their own time. But could it be more valuable in the long run if companies trained their employees themselves? In this blog post, a Strasz web application developer explains why employer-led training leads to happier, more knowledgeable, and more productive employees.
When I joined Strasz, I was told that my first three weeks on the job would be spent training. No stumbling through the code base to fix small bugs. No bothering seasoned developers to help me understand new tools. No small, unimportant tasks.
Just three weeks of training. And my reaction? “I am being paid to learn. Awesome!”
Here are five reasons why training your employees on your time is an excellent idea.
1. Lowers the barrier to meaningful contribution to the company
I spent my three-week training period learning the tools, development practices, and business domain of Strasz. Upon completion of my training, I was assigned meaningful tasks and was able to complete them with minimal assistance from more seasoned employees. This is a big deal. At previous jobs, I remember taking weeks/months to start contributing more than small bug fixes and basic features, due to insufficient upfront training. The benefit of giving new employees confidence to contribute early in their employment is significant.
2. Increases employee value to the company
What better way to increase employee value than to constantly teach them? As a developer, there are always new tools and practices introduced to the market. By providing access to learning material and by encouraging learning, your employees can keep up with technological progress and bring that acquired knowledge to your company. Each week, my development team has time allocated for learning. Our team has increased our knowledge, and this provides increased value to the business.
3. Strengthens connections between business goals and products
There is often a disconnect between business goals and the software being produced. This is usually due to developers not taking the time to understand the business domain they are writing software for. They just take the requirements, write code, and fix bugs as they arise. Instead of leaving it up to the employees to learn about the business domain, it’s better to teach them about it on your time (e.g., a series of lunch-and-learns or a multi-day conference). Strasz has taught me a lot about our business, and I personally feel that it makes me a better developer.
4. Increases talent pool
Many employers complain about not being able to find good developers (or employees in general). I find that this is due to employers seeking employees with too specific a skill set. On many occasions, employers pass on candidates that they like personally because they lack experience with a specific tool. But don’t forget that good developers can learn new tools. When I was hired, I did not have experience with many of the tools that the Strasz development team uses. After being trained, I am very comfortable with these tools, and I look forward to learning new ones. What it means is that you can focus on hiring people for the reasons you care about, and not because of the tools they have or have not used.
5. Increases employee enthusiasm
Who doesn’t like being paid to learn? Many employees struggle to continuously learn and grow on their own time. If you create a culture of continued learning, many employees will jump at the opportunities presented to them, and both parties will ultimately benefit from this encouraged learning environment. I have learned so much at Strasz so far, and I am eager to use my education to provide continued benefits to the company.
Ryan Moseley, Web Application Developer
February 18, 2015
In many companies, employees are asked to train themselves on a variety of technologies and subjects — at their own expense and on their own time. But could it be more valuable in the long run if companies trained their employees themselves? In this blog post, a Strasz web application developer explains why employer-led training leads to happier, more knowledgeable, and more productive employees.
When I joined Strasz, I was told that my first three weeks on the job would be spent training. No stumbling through the code base to fix small bugs. No bothering seasoned developers to help me understand new tools. No small, unimportant tasks.
Just three weeks of training. And my reaction? “I am being paid to learn. Awesome!”
Here are five reasons why training your employees on your time is an excellent idea.
1. Lowers the barrier to meaningful contribution to the company
I spent my three-week training period learning the tools, development practices, and business domain of Strasz. Upon completion of my training, I was assigned meaningful tasks and was able to complete them with minimal assistance from more seasoned employees. This is a big deal. At previous jobs, I remember taking weeks/months to start contributing more than small bug fixes and basic features, due to insufficient upfront training. The benefit of giving new employees confidence to contribute early in their employment is significant.
2. Increases employee value to the company
What better way to increase employee value than to constantly teach them? As a developer, there are always new tools and practices introduced to the market. By providing access to learning material and by encouraging learning, your employees can keep up with technological progress and bring that acquired knowledge to your company. Each week, my development team has time allocated for learning. Our team has increased our knowledge, and this provides increased value to the business.
3. Strengthens connections between business goals and products
There is often a disconnect between business goals and the software being produced. This is usually due to developers not taking the time to understand the business domain they are writing software for. They just take the requirements, write code, and fix bugs as they arise. Instead of leaving it up to the employees to learn about the business domain, it’s better to teach them about it on your time (e.g., a series of lunch-and-learns or a multi-day conference). Strasz has taught me a lot about our business, and I personally feel that it makes me a better developer.
4. Increases talent pool
Many employers complain about not being able to find good developers (or employees in general). I find that this is due to employers seeking employees with too specific a skill set. On many occasions, employers pass on candidates that they like personally because they lack experience with a specific tool. But don’t forget that good developers can learn new tools. When I was hired, I did not have experience with many of the tools that the Strasz development team uses. After being trained, I am very comfortable with these tools, and I look forward to learning new ones. What it means is that you can focus on hiring people for the reasons you care about, and not because of the tools they have or have not used.
5. Increases employee enthusiasm
Who doesn’t like being paid to learn? Many employees struggle to continuously learn and grow on their own time. If you create a culture of continued learning, many employees will jump at the opportunities presented to them, and both parties will ultimately benefit from this encouraged learning environment. I have learned so much at Strasz so far, and I am eager to use my education to provide continued benefits to the company.