What a week of delivering training taught me

Background: In the 90's I used to work for a company named Information Technologists (ITI). In those days, the Internet wasn't even web-based (think BitNet, and think UseNet newsgroups, and that funky WAIS browser I could never understand--don't even get me started on Gopher). That company did consulting, training, and reselling, and eventually ended up being sold to Modis (after a name change to Actium) for a nice amount of money.

I used to be one of the core education guys there. I taught all sorts of material, with special expertise in both relational databases (Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle) and PowerBuilder, which anyone today who worked back then will tell you kicked Visual Basic in the nuts.

I must have taught over 5,000 people in those 7 or 8 years. I don't remember an exact figure. What I do remember is how much I really enjoyed the job. I totally enjoyed that "aha moment" where a student, who was wracking their brain with a very tough problem, let you help them enough to experience a small epiphany. I truly felt energized by those moments, and it kept me happy for most of my 20's.

Enter the .COM boom, Java, consulting, the bust, 9-11, lots of contract gigs, a few permanent gigs, and finally my landing at Chariot. This week I've just delivered a week of training to one of our clients, and I have to say I'm stoked that it went so well. However...

I must remind everyone what it takes to write course material. If you think you're good at delivering a speech, presentation, or even a pre-written course, think again before committing to writing material. Not only is it hard, but you are under the gun, expected to deliver answers in time for the next chapter, and at the same time, tweak your material for the next time.

After three straight weeks of preparation and planning, writing and copying, and much help from some fantastic co-workers, I closed the book today after a week of teaching Spring, Maven and OSgi, and felt good about how it went. Really good.

We have lots of options today that I never dreamed of when teaching Powerbuilder, Sybase, ER/Win, etc. For instance, the Internet is available for researching alternative approaches, so when I found myself stumbling over a JPA question, didn't you know that the forums were abuzz with complaints about the same issue!

Teaching reminded me of the following things:

• No matter how much you prep, it isn't enough


• No matter how much you reduce a concept to simple terms, they will take time to digest


• You have too many words on your slides. Period.


• You can't keep the entire group 100% in sync; somebody will fall behind and some will be bored


• One out of two demos will fizzle or act unexpectedly


• Your course setup files will NOT work properly


• Lunch will arrive late


• You will get stuck in traffic


• You won't have all the answers, but can find people who do. However, it will bug the poop out of you, and then you will end up figuring them out yourself anyway.


• Those who can do, do. Those who can't do shouldn't teach. Those who teach had better really know the subject area


• Getting the "Aha!" moment out of people is addicting, like a drug


• Writing labs is 10 times harder than writing lecture material


• I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the class

My co-horts and I are planning our goals for next year's training efforts. Hopefully we can build on our materials, and offer some courses next year. I'll post updates if and when we offer public training, but for now I am very happy things went so well and hopeful for a great 2009!