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  • Training WTF

    My SO recently got a new role at his work - he was a systems administrator for a webhosting company, he's now doing something more operations focused. Naturally, his company has opted to put him through a short-training course to fill in a few gaps of his knowledge.

    We are listening to the training videos at the moment - the first two videos are basically "This is a network," followed shortly by "this is how a network works." As in, this is VERY basic stuff that he would've needed to know before he even got to the Sysadmin job. Unfortunately these videos are required before he gets to the actual training stuff.

    I had to clarify whether or not his work set this up for him or not - he confirmed that it wasn't, it's from a third-party vendor that provide these programs for EVERYONE.

  • #2
    Yeah, that is distressingly common in the tech industry. The best he can do is slog through it, as most of them are set up to prevent you from fast-forwarding through the presentations. I don't know if it's just "we need to have material for all levels of experience including non-technical people", or what, but it's pretty common...
    “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
    One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
    The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers

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    • #3
      And, of course, the vendor gets to be paid for each segment of training, needed, usable or not.
      At least they're not falling into the other end of the spectrum, "Here's an outline and a worksheet. BYE!"

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      • #4
        This reminds me of some "training" for a new set of "Culture change" tools my company bought into and made mandatory that everyone in the offices get certified in.

        The "training" videos were, about 90% a bunch of "success stories" of other businesses using these tools. In short, the training was selling the product to a company that had ALREADY BOUGHT IT.

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        • #5
          Quoth Sulhythal View Post
          In short, the training was selling the product to a company that had ALREADY BOUGHT IT.
          To be fair, at that point they were probably trying to sell it to the users, not to the people who write the checks. Because their service/whatever is a lot more valuable if they can convince people to actually use it sometimes.
          “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
          One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
          The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers

          Comment


          • #6
            Quoth Nunavut Pants View Post
            Yeah, that is distressingly common in the tech industry. The best he can do is slog through it, as most of them are set up to prevent you from fast-forwarding through the presentations. I don't know if it's just "we need to have material for all levels of experience including non-technical people", or what, but it's pretty common...
            I figured as much, but it was still way too damn funny that the company didn't vet it first (not sure if something like recognition of prior learning could apply there).

            My reaction when I heard the video was basically then (I don't work in IT, but I have a basic idea of how things work)

            Quoth Buzzard View Post
            And, of course, the vendor gets to be paid for each segment of training, needed, usable or not.
            At least they're not falling into the other end of the spectrum, "Here's an outline and a worksheet. BYE!"
            This is also true. I had this with the anti-bullying program my work thought was appropriate.

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            • #7
              Quoth Sulhythal View Post
              The "training" videos were, about 90% a bunch of "success stories" of other businesses using these tools. In short, the training was selling the product to a company that had ALREADY BOUGHT IT.
              I attended something like that awhile back. It was supposed to be training on how to use this (dubiously) wonderful piece of software, but it was more like a sales pitch for what we had already bought. It wasn't really helpful in training you how to use it.
              Sometimes life is altered.
              Break from the ropes your hands are tied.
              Uneasy with confrontation.
              Won't turn out right. Can't turn out right

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              • #8
                Quoth Nunavut Pants View Post
                Yeah, that is distressingly common in the tech industry. The best he can do is slog through it, as most of them are set up to prevent you from fast-forwarding through the presentations. I don't know if it's just "we need to have material for all levels of experience including non-technical people", or what, but it's pretty common...
                Yep. Encountered it with my mandatory yearly IT security training. I wound up kicking off each video segment (there were 20), muting the sound, and going on to do something else. I still got all the quiz questions correct.
                "I often look at every second idiot and think, 'He needs more power.'" --Varric Tethras, Dragon Age II

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                • #9
                  Reminds me of when my workplace sent a bunch of us to a "customer service" training course. I stared at my manager when he told me it was a mandatory thing.

                  J2K: "So me-- the person who consistently gets positive feedback from customers, and who spent years in retail with similar positive feedback-- has to waste a day learning sh*t I already know?"
                  Him: "Afraid so."
                  J2K: "In that case... where's it being done? [Contractor Site]?"
                  Him: "Yes."
                  J2K: "That's five minutes from my house. Tell you what. Instead of driving all the way out to [Client HQ] for barely an hour's worth of work before driving all the way back to [Contractor Site] for an all-day class, then driving all the way back to [Client HQ] for, at best, half an hour of work before the end of my shift, how about I just skip coming to [Client HQ] altogether and just do the course and call the day early?"

                  He thought about it, and decided I was right. Given I'd be driving through rush hour traffic both ways having to go to and from [Contractor Site] to get to [Client HQ], it made more sense. So I enjoyed being able to sleep in a couple more hours and take a much shorter drive to and from the other facility.

                  The class was nothing I didn't already know, but it got me out of having to take calls for a day.
                  PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

                  There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

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