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Brian Egler

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SQL Server 2008 training - Just in Time…

By Brian Egler on Fri, 09/19/08 - 9:11am.

. What's this?

As a training company we always have a dilemma when a new release comes out. The early adopters want the training yesterday so that they can be at the leading (or bleeding) edge of technology. Many people want to see the latest release as part of their own curiosity or for planning for an upgrade in the future. Many people need training in the release that's in place at their company so they can return to work and feel comfortable that they have the skills to use the technology there and then. In terms of SQL Server that may require supporting training from 3 different releases. And, of course, we have to plan classes 6 months in advance to reserve the correct resources. So how do we do it?

Maybe to your surprise, it does not include a finger in the air to detect the wind direction. The key is flexibility to change without burning your bridges. For instance, when SQL Server 2005 was in Beta, we started developing training for the early adopters. We knew there would be technology evangelists ( I always wanted that title on my business card, never got it...) who would want to see the latest version of SQL Server in action even in pre-release form. So we developed a full 5-day class with extensive labs on subjects from SQLCLR to Database Mirroring based on the latest "CTP" Beta release. We designed it so that we could plug in the latest CTP whenever a new one was available. And we would update the lab guide as features became available. But we couldn't just stop SQL Server 2000 training, as the majority of our requests for training in SQL Server were for the "current release". When SQL Server 2005 was finally released Nov 7th 2005, we had training in place that day and we used the RTM product in the labs. I remember, because I taught a SQL Server 2005 class in Morristown, NJ that week. It was very impressive to be able to offer just-in-time training.

But now the "current release" had changed and we started seeing more and more requests for SQL Server 2005 training. The profile of the student was typically an advanced database professional who maybe had not had training for 5 years and wanted to see what was new. However, instead of an early adopter, we were seeing two separate audiences appear: the DBA and the Developer. So we took the 5-day course and split it into two 5-day tracks: one for the Administrator and one for the Developer. Each course became more detailed and customized for its particular audience role. This strategy proved very successful. A third audience became apparent through requests and feedback: the Report Developer who needed to know how to use the new Reporting Services. And then we started to see a fourth audience: the Business Intelligence developer. So we developed SQL Server 2005 courses for Reporting Services and Business Intelligence. The key here was that we were nimble enough to react to customer requests and provide the training that people needed. Asking for training and actually paying for it sometimes seems like a chasm to cross, but we took a leap of faith and took the "if we build it, they will come" attitude (remember Field of Dreams? "Is this heaven?" "No, it's Iowa"). It paid off. Our SQL Server 2005 training was more popular than ever with 4 well attended courses. Of course, we still offered SQL Server 2000 training as many installations remained on the older release but we saw numbers gradually move away from this curriculum to the new courses.

So what about SQL Server 2008? Well, we are going to follow basically the same strategy. We already have a 3-day SQL 2008 training course for the early adopter and since the product was released in early August we should see a slow but steady transition to the new release. Based on customer feedback, we will continue to offer the SQL 2005 courses. Instructors will demo the SQL 2008 functionality during these courses if the students are interested in the new functionality and will be pointed to the new SQL 2008 training if more than an interest prevails. In Q1 2009 we will offer an extended 5-day course for SQL 2008. Later on, we will then split this course into multiple courses to support the increased requests by role for SQL Server 2008. The timing will be dictated by the customer requests. In this way we will be able to react to change in a proactive way. As they say on the airlines, as a customer, we realize you have a choice.

Cheers

Brian