3 ms·

Ask HN: Does your employer pay for conferences?

4 points by Raed667 8y ago

Does your employer pay for conferences and give you paid time to attend? If so, how often? Do you think refusal to do so is a bad sign?

evgen 8y ago
Is the conference and/or the schedule of talks directly relevant to my job responsibilities or am I going because my employer wants me to be there to learn something specific or doe a bit of passive recruiting? In that case employer pays. Do I just want to go to a particular conference and my employer doesn't particularly care about the conference or I can't make a convincing case for a specific business interest that this conference serves? No, the employer does not pay. Next time make sure that you add attendance at a conference that seems somewhat relevant into your employment contract. I have found that this is one of the better times to make the ask (e.g. "I want to make sure I am on top of my game and delivering best practices and new techniques to the company, so I think we should add PyCon attendance to the list of benefits/duties and I will also do a bit of recruiting there for the company...") As far as what refusal means, it could either be that the department just doesn't have spare discretionary budget to fly you somewhere to sit in a hotel for a week or else they have the budget but just have no interest in sending you because they do not think it would be worth it. For the latter you can plan ahead a bit more and spend 4-6 months reminding the decision maker about some interesting talk at conference X and how it might apply to some activity the company cares about.
- Raed667 8y ago
  Thank you, I think I will do that next time, and note since the start that community & engagement is important for me.
taylodl 8y ago
Yes and yes, BUT - and this is important - you must be able to identify how attending this conference aligns with the organization's goals and help achieve them. In practice then you end up going to a conference every 2-3 years. There have been instances where we've had tight budgets and couldn't afford conference fees, lodging and travel but the company provided paid time off to attend, since payroll is built into the budget. Even then they try to pick up one of the items such as lodging (which can get quite expensive if the conference is in San Francisco - we're in the Midwest). Is it a bad sign? Well, what other opportunities is your employer providing for professional growth?
- Raed667 8y ago
  In this particular case the conference was right next to my work place, it had some tracks that were very related to what i'm working on. The only cost to my employer would have been three days I don't show up at the office. No travel or housing expense.
  - taylodl 8y ago
    Was anyone else from your team going to the conference? Did you give them enough notice? Or are they being hard-nosed on never sending anyone to conferences ever?

4 points by Raed667 8y ago

Does your employer pay for conferences and give you paid time to attend? If so, how often? Do you think refusal to do so is a bad sign?

evgen 8y ago

Is the conference and/or the schedule of talks directly relevant to my job responsibilities or am I going because my employer wants me to be there to learn something specific or doe a bit of passive recruiting? In that case employer pays. Do I just want to go to a particular conference and my employer doesn't particularly care about the conference or I can't make a convincing case for a specific business interest that this conference serves? No, the employer does not pay. Next time make sure that you add attendance at a conference that seems somewhat relevant into your employment contract. I have found that this is one of the better times to make the ask (e.g. "I want to make sure I am on top of my game and delivering best practices and new techniques to the company, so I think we should add PyCon attendance to the list of benefits/duties and I will also do a bit of recruiting there for the company...") As far as what refusal means, it could either be that the department just doesn't have spare discretionary budget to fly you somewhere to sit in a hotel for a week or else they have the budget but just have no interest in sending you because they do not think it would be worth it. For the latter you can plan ahead a bit more and spend 4-6 months reminding the decision maker about some interesting talk at conference X and how it might apply to some activity the company cares about.

Raed667 8y ago
Thank you, I think I will do that next time, and note since the start that community & engagement is important for me.

taylodl 8y ago

Yes and yes, BUT - and this is important - you must be able to identify how attending this conference aligns with the organization's goals and help achieve them. In practice then you end up going to a conference every 2-3 years. There have been instances where we've had tight budgets and couldn't afford conference fees, lodging and travel but the company provided paid time off to attend, since payroll is built into the budget. Even then they try to pick up one of the items such as lodging (which can get quite expensive if the conference is in San Francisco - we're in the Midwest). Is it a bad sign? Well, what other opportunities is your employer providing for professional growth?

Raed667 8y ago
In this particular case the conference was right next to my work place, it had some tracks that were very related to what i'm working on. The only cost to my employer would have been three days I don't show up at the office. No travel or housing expense.
- taylodl 8y ago
  Was anyone else from your team going to the conference? Did you give them enough notice? Or are they being hard-nosed on never sending anyone to conferences ever?