4 ms·

That’s a rather poor attitude you have toward your colleagues if any of them dare suggest they need a little training.

tehpsalmist 7y ago
I think the author is thinking more of someone who is insisting they cannot proceed without being given training, versus someone who is doing everything they can to keep up and could benefit from some training to stay on top of things.
stickfigure 7y ago
"I need training!" says that you need to figure out how to make me good at this role. It shifts responsibility onto the organization; if I suck at the job, it's someone else's fault. A great engineer figures out what to do no matter how dysfunctional the organization. It's not that it makes you a bad engineer if you can't thrive in an imperfect organization. All organizations are varying levels of imperfect. Great engineers figure out how to be great anyway.
- Scarblac 7y ago
  What if training is simply the most efficient way to get the required knowledge and it has nothing to do with the level of perfection of the organisation?
  - brianwawok 7y ago
    Maybe, but it means the guy who can teach himself via google is going to get his similar project done a lot faster.
    - Scarblac 7y ago
      I don't think Googling is the fastest way to learn things in general. But I was mostly thinking of stuff that can't be found on Google, e.g. the last time I said I needed training was when I was going to do maintenance at some company, on some internal application that I had never seen. I didn't know the domain either. But I had heard that a two-day training course for users existed (also given by internal people). So I said I wanted that training (developers before me hadn't), people thought that was a good idea and it turned out to be very helpful.
- loopz 7y ago
  Sometimes, it is completely justified: Taking on responsibilities, or just getting work done that should be done, requires time, efforts, followups, etc. While such work is often menial, it frees up the organization keeping systems alive and breathing, avoiding firefighting and hero-saving episodes later. Then some manager tells you, "we need Kafka, can you provide our solution for that early next week?" THEN, you say "I need training!" (necessitating relief from other duties).

I think the author is thinking more of someone who is insisting they cannot proceed without being given training, versus someone who is doing everything they can to keep up and could benefit from some training to stay on top of things.

stickfigure 7y ago

"I need training!" says that you need to figure out how to make me good at this role. It shifts responsibility onto the organization; if I suck at the job, it's someone else's fault. A great engineer figures out what to do no matter how dysfunctional the organization. It's not that it makes you a bad engineer if you can't thrive in an imperfect organization. All organizations are varying levels of imperfect. Great engineers figure out how to be great anyway.

Scarblac 7y ago
What if training is simply the most efficient way to get the required knowledge and it has nothing to do with the level of perfection of the organisation?
- brianwawok 7y ago
  Maybe, but it means the guy who can teach himself via google is going to get his similar project done a lot faster.
  - Scarblac 7y ago
    I don't think Googling is the fastest way to learn things in general. But I was mostly thinking of stuff that can't be found on Google, e.g. the last time I said I needed training was when I was going to do maintenance at some company, on some internal application that I had never seen. I didn't know the domain either. But I had heard that a two-day training course for users existed (also given by internal people). So I said I wanted that training (developers before me hadn't), people thought that was a good idea and it turned out to be very helpful.
loopz 7y ago
Sometimes, it is completely justified: Taking on responsibilities, or just getting work done that should be done, requires time, efforts, followups, etc. While such work is often menial, it frees up the organization keeping systems alive and breathing, avoiding firefighting and hero-saving episodes later. Then some manager tells you, "we need Kafka, can you provide our solution for that early next week?" THEN, you say "I need training!" (necessitating relief from other duties).