Thoughts on Training

Posted: May 8th, 2009 | Author: kevin | Filed under: Business, Erlang | View Comments

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my upcoming class, Hands On Erlang. Of course, any training class is a gamble and that’s even more the case given the current economic situation. However, response for the class has not been what I expected and I’m struggling to understand why.

I gave this class here in North Carolina back in February and the response was phenomenal. I got a lot of interest from across the country and had 7 people actually enroll in the class. The class could’ve been larger but many people couldn’t swing travel all the way to the East Coast.

The class was an absolute blast and I think everyone got quite a lot out of it. I know the class was partially responsible for one attendee landing a full-time Erlang job a couple of months later.

Based on the response from the first class I thought a second class in a more central location would go over just as well. I chose Chicago because it’s centrally located and easily reachable. I’ve kept the costs as low as I can — it’s been educational to see how much an event like this can cost — while still putting on a professional quality class. Lower costs has allowed me to keep the price at an affordable level, I think.

This is where I could use some help. If you’ve thought about the class but didn’t sign up I’d really like to know why. Is the cost too high? Is Chicago an undesirable location? Are there other topics you’d like to see covered in the class? Or is there something else which prevented you from signing up? If you can spare the time, please comment on this post or send me an email with your thoughts. My email address is (kevin at hypotheticalabs dot com). All private responses will be treated with the utmost confidentiality.

Update: I’m also on twitter (@kevsmith). Feel free to ping me with your thoughts there, too.

  • Luc -

    Hopefully my most recent posting addresses your first two concerns so I won't say more about those points here. What I do want to talk about is how the class differs from my screencasts.

    The classes are primarily different from the screencasts in that we go into much more detail on each topic, especially gen_server and the OTP bits. Also, there are more lab exercises which allow everyone to get very comfortable with Erlang. I'd say everyone in the last class had at least one "aha!" moment even though most of them had watched the 'casts.

    There's only so much you can cover in two days and I chose to focus on the practical basics. My goal for everyone who attends the class is to be comfortable enough with Erlang they could look at the source for a complex project, like webmachine or even CouchDB, and be able to figure out what's going on.
  • I've also considered attending the training but did not sign up for the following reasons:

    1) Location. If it was in VA/DC/MD (or driving distance from there), I would have attended.

    2) Price is high (+ hotel & travel costs)

    3) After watching your screencasts and looking at the class schedule I felt like it would be almost the same content. Maybe you could point out what the differences between the class and the screencasts would be.
  • B. Factor
    For your next class, why don't you hook up with the local chapter of a professional group (such as ACM) and have them sponsor your training session? That creates a ready-made market for your offering.
  • Location isn't good for me, would consider attending if you have a class in the VA/DC/MD area. Price is pretty high too though.
  • I was lucky enough to have attended the NC training and loved it. The format was fantastic -- just the right split between theory and praxis. I *wish* there was someone doing a similar workshop for Haskell.
  • B. Factor
    I'd also be interested but it would have to be in the greater NY/NJ metro area.
  • CK
    I would love to attend the class if it is within driving distance (< 6h). E.g. Reston, VA or Philadephia, PA.
  • Jim - So are you waiting for another class in NC?
  • I'm still upset I missed the one in NC! I shall bide my time... ;-)
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