Good training opportunities on the edges of technology?
June 16, 2010 11:54 AM   Subscribe

I work as a web developer, project manager, and occasional jack-of-all-trades. What's the most interesting things I could reasonably do with a small budget marked "paid training"?

Previously, most of my coworkers and I don't use that budget; on specific technical skills, documentation, tutorials, and the internet in general are faster ways to gain the same knowledge.

Last year, someone pointed out that Edward Tufte offers one-day courses in data visualization, which, well, was awesome. We learned stuff, it was fun, and it was pretty easy to justify as work related; an enormous part of my job is displaying data, so this was in the right ballpark.

Any suggestions for other similar training opportunities that aren't focused so much on a specific skill, but on a discipline? Any suggestions on training in general? It has to be reasonably applicable to my job, but that's about it.
posted by talldean to Technology (7 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
What about professional conferences that are within a days travel of you?
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 11:59 AM on June 16, 2010


Response by poster: I'm in Pittsburgh, and anything near Pittsburgh or Cleveland could probably work really well. Most of the interesting things here in Pittsburgh are centered around CMU or the other universities, but not promoted as well outside of the academic community.
posted by talldean at 12:26 PM on June 16, 2010


Best answer: Classes from http://www.lynda.com/ (wide variety of skills)

User Experience: UXCamp DC in 2011 (I heard this was good, close enough?)

Project Management: PMI Training
posted by artlung at 1:10 PM on June 16, 2010


A great class that I attended for around $60 was a day long session (with food!) put on by our local chamber of commerce about things the city was doing with social media and how we as local businesses could participate in their initiatives and work together with each other to form strong social networking partners. They brought in guest speakers who generally charge consulting fees for giving businesses this information. It was fun and informative, plus I got to meet many other local area businesses and put a face to the Facebook page. You might check and see if your local business orgs offer any interesting classes.
posted by msbutah at 1:27 PM on June 16, 2010 [1 favorite]


Best answer: It sounds like you may be primarily working as an interaction designer / info architect but are not using that word. You could try googling related conferences, and see if there is a Usability Professional's Association chapter near you.

You could try attending a Nielsen / Norman Group class / seminar?
posted by xammerboy at 7:16 AM on June 17, 2010


Response by poster: xammerboy: I'm a developer by trade, have done Java for a few years. Nielsen isn't easily searched for; Norman Group appears to be regional?
posted by talldean at 7:15 PM on June 17, 2010


Best answer: (assisting xammerboy): Nielsen Norman Group is the link. Workshops, events.
posted by artlung at 7:41 PM on June 17, 2010


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