[Melbourne-pm] Australia's garbage computer training offerings

[Timothy S. Nelson]

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008, John Thornton wrote:

> Cost is not a real issue. I am prepared to pay for a good course
> taught by people who know their stuff. More important is to do a course online that covers
> the specifics of programming: OOP, applets etc. The language also isn?t that important. I
> would even be prepared to give Perl another go in spite of my expressed distaste for it on
> this list! The learning style matters ? those 5 day intensive things are no good for me.

 	In response to those (not John) who recommended that he get a good 
book, I agree that browsing the web or if necessary getting a book work would 
work for me, but I'm also aware that some people learn much better from 
another person than they do from a book.  If that wasn't the case, corporate 
training wouldn't exist.  If he has the money, I think he should be free to 
choose a learning style that suits him.

> TAFE is too vague in its course descriptors.

 	Only one solution to this (and it's not just TAFE, either :) ), talk 
to the people who will actually be running the TAFE course.

> course from the US and have enrolled. It teaches all programming including Perl. But I will
> be starting with a general intro course on OOP. I won?t say what the school is ? that may
> not be appropriate on this list. But to give the most unsubtle attempt at a cryptic clue
> you would be Irish if you couldn?t guess it.

 	Feel free to say it; it may not always be appropriate to mention 
businesses, but since you're a happy customer rather than a spruiker, I reckon 
it's fair enough.

> Australia. With all due respect to the people reading this who teach Perl, you are not
> focused on people like me. Rather, your market is corporate where the employer pays for the
> training and the employee takes 5 days off work to do intensive Perl training. In itself
> that is not objectionable since it?s a valid market. But it does zap out people like me.

 	It seems to me like what you really want is a Uni/TAFE style course, 
but have then objected to them due to either vagueness or cost.  Rather than 
complaining to people in the corporate sector, I'd advise you to figure out 
how to address either the vagueness issue of TAFE (see my suggestion above), 
or the cost issue of Uni (Tip: have you tried talking this over with 
Centrelink?  Maybe you should be looking at an undergrad unit instead of 
postgrad?  Do you need certification, or just teaching?)

> Paul Keating spoke of Australia being the clever country. In the world
> of IT training we are the very very dumb country.

 	Oh, I wouldn't go that far.  The Australian system seems to be well 
set up for a lot of people, but it's more difficult for the few who fall into 
your situation.  That'll mean a bit of extra work for you (ie. addressing the 
TAFE vagueness by contacting the person running the course), but hopefully 
that's not too onerous.

 	:)


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| Name: Tim Nelson                 | Because the Creator is,        |
| E-mail: wayland at wayland.id.au    | I am                           |
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