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Ask HN: What company has the best learning culture and why?

In your current company or a previous company, what made it standout and make you believe "This company takes my learning and development seriously"? What it training budget, 1:1 coaching, certificate sponsorship etc? What made it's culture standout from a learning perspective?

daviddever23box 4y ago
There's two approaches to this: - my company has a formally-structured approach to training / knowledge gathering - my company provides me the ability to independently structure my process of inquiry without interference or external management The second often morphs into or informs the first.
- cauliflower99 4y ago
  Thanks for your response! - my company has a formally-structured approach to training / knowledge gathering My understanding is that this would appear in the form of a training budget, classroom sessions, sponsored courses / certification etc. This is fairly standard across the industry. - my company provides me the ability to independently structure my process of inquiry without interference or external management Could you give some examples of how this manifests in real-life scenarios? I'm not clear on what you mean exactly.
  - daviddever23box 4y ago
    Your response is a perfect meta-example of the side-effects of a reliance upon formally-structured knowledge transfer, i.e., waiting for the answers to be provided to you. This is typical of a junior engineer's approach. The second approach relies upon independent inquiry plus personal initiative, a strong requirement for a senior engineer, who may be independently approaching a problem for the first time and understands the value of time spent (e.g., avoidance of rabbit holes, the need to document one's findings, etc.). As an example–in a company full of senior engineers, the relative merit of time spent to develop training coursework is offset by the cost of getting other, more valuable work done; as a consequence, hiring decisions are often made based on a given candidate's ability to work on one's own, rather than being led. On the other hand–in a larger company that has a wider variety of experience levels, training and certification are a must-have in order to bring forth capable employees that can rise to individual challenges without hand-holding. Does that make sense?

daviddever23box 4y ago

There's two approaches to this: - my company has a formally-structured approach to training / knowledge gathering - my company provides me the ability to independently structure my process of inquiry without interference or external management The second often morphs into or informs the first.

cauliflower99 4y ago
Thanks for your response! - my company has a formally-structured approach to training / knowledge gathering My understanding is that this would appear in the form of a training budget, classroom sessions, sponsored courses / certification etc. This is fairly standard across the industry. - my company provides me the ability to independently structure my process of inquiry without interference or external management Could you give some examples of how this manifests in real-life scenarios? I'm not clear on what you mean exactly.
- daviddever23box 4y ago
  Your response is a perfect meta-example of the side-effects of a reliance upon formally-structured knowledge transfer, i.e., waiting for the answers to be provided to you. This is typical of a junior engineer's approach. The second approach relies upon independent inquiry plus personal initiative, a strong requirement for a senior engineer, who may be independently approaching a problem for the first time and understands the value of time spent (e.g., avoidance of rabbit holes, the need to document one's findings, etc.). As an example–in a company full of senior engineers, the relative merit of time spent to develop training coursework is offset by the cost of getting other, more valuable work done; as a consequence, hiring decisions are often made based on a given candidate's ability to work on one's own, rather than being led. On the other hand–in a larger company that has a wider variety of experience levels, training and certification are a must-have in order to bring forth capable employees that can rise to individual challenges without hand-holding. Does that make sense?