Who and why should pay for the development of an IT specialist?
Let me make it clear right away that we will be talking primarily about operations workers (system administrator, engineer, IT specialist, etc.) as those who are most deprived of the benefits of corporate culture.
Why does an IT specialist need professional development?
Firstly, technologies do not stand still, business needs change. Today, an office relies on financial savings, and tomorrow – on building a fault-tolerant infrastructure through redundancy. An employee who does not keep up with the times loses out in competition. and risks being thrown out of the market. And the competition is getting stronger.
Secondly, in order to defend your position in a difficult situation with arguments and with the support of colleagues, you need to be respected. And a leader in a team is always a master of his craft, who knows the technology well and can advise his comrades, and not only knows how to argue with the management.
Why does an employer need an IT specialist to develop professionally?
Firstly, the higher the quality of the product supplied to the market, the easier it is for the organization to bypass competitors, attract investments and create new goods. The more economically successful it is. Success directly depends on labor productivity. And labor productivity depends on the qualifications of the personnel. The higher the qualifications, the higher the productivity.
Secondly, a successful company is a stable company. When everything inside works like clockwork, it is much easier to concentrate on the target activity. And here again the human factor is important. Trained personnel make fewer mistakes in production, which reduces costs. This increases the level of trust on the part of customers.
Thirdly, it is more profitable to train already trained employees because they know the technical processes and are in the context of corporate life. While training people from the street requires full onboarding and long-term adaptation to new conditions. By investing in the education of their employees, the employer gains their loyalty and increases their motivation, and also raises the prestige of the enterprise as an employer in the labor market.
Training during working hours using real examples
Several years ago, in the Omsk organization “Avangard Soft” (engaged in providing services to small businesses for technical support of personal computers, printers, etc.), system administrators approached the manager with a request to help them master the Linux operating system. At a general meeting, they presented arguments on how increasing the competence of personnel would help bring the company to a new level. For example, it would be possible to add support for web servers, applications, and a great many other services that can be deployed on the basis of this OS to the list of services.
The employer went to meet them halfway, and it was decided to dedicate one day of the week to professional development issues. A speaker was chosen from among the employees, who had to prepare a short story on the topic. For example, explain the structure of the operating system, system calls or process states. It was supposed to study from the book “Unix and Linux. System Administrator's Guide”.
Unfortunately, after two or three weeks, such training came to naught due to a number of reasons: low motivation of employees, different levels of education, lack of internal self-control. However, the precedent itself for such an organization is definitely of interest in the context of the topic under discussion.
Furthermore, in the Omsk branch of the organization OOO Tamtek (today Lineate), self-education was only encouraged. Employees were given special goals (for example, to learn AWS services, the basics of Docker, or “version control systems”). Achieving these goals gave the opportunity to increase the category, and therefore the salary. But there was one nuance. The implementation of goals was practiced exclusively during non-working hours. And this was inconvenient for the team, especially given the high pace of work and excessive workload.
To solve the problem, engineers began asking at monthly meetings to move their studies to working hours. At first, management was skeptical. However, later the bosses discovered that workers began to fulfill their goals less often and less efficiently, lost the last of their motivation, and thought more often about changing jobs.
As a result, the management decided to meet the engineers halfway and redistribute the workload in such a way that it would be possible to study during working hours. This helped to increase motivation and improve the quality of life of specialists, who now had the opportunity to devote their free time to other hobbies. After all, harmonious development is extremely important for the formation of a stable personality.
Conclusion:
So, in the professional development of an employee both parties are interested labor relations. Investing in staff training is a necessary minimum that will help save the company in difficult times. However, not all employers understand this.
Demand that your superiors provide you with a decent and well-paid professional education. Don't be silent, there is no money for asking. There will be an effect much higher if we act collectively.
