So you have decided to invest some time and money into training. Maybe you want to do your job better. Maybe you want to brush up your resume in preparation for a new job search with some long overdue certifications. You have probably realized that no matter what type of training you decide to do, it’s not cheap. So how do you maximize your investment in both time and money to get the most out of your education? I have six suggestions that will help get the most bang for your education buck (I wish I had this list when I was in college).
1. Don’t over estimate your skills
Maybe you look at the outline for a class or maybe you just have something against a class that has ‘Introduction’ in the name and you decide that you already know everything that is going to be covered in the class so you don’t need to waste your time with level one and you can proceed to level two. This is your first mistake. Typically the introduction class sets the stage for all of the other classes to follow. At the very least, the intro class introduces terminology that you’ll need as you proceed on to more advanced classes.
But really, a know-it-all attitude is not in your best interest. I go to a number of seminars and no matter how well I know a particular subject, I always get a different point of view, or learn a new facet about a particular product. If you think that you know everything, then either you should be in a different field, or you are setting yourself up for a terrible disappointment. Take the Level One class so you get the most out of any subsequent classes.
2. Have a specific for goal in mind
Come into the class with a project or outcome in mind. If your company is sending you to training, what project will you work on once the training is complete? If you are taking the class to get certified, then what do you want to be when you grow up? Every time that I start a new class, I ask the students, “Why are you here?” Most students tell me, “Because my boss sent me”, if they answer at all. (I know classes start early in the morning, but come on, I don’t bite).
If you have a specific outcome in mind for the class, mention it at the start of the class, particularly if/when the instructor asks. I like to put this kind of information on the whiteboard. As we cover concepts in class, I can refer to the list on the whiteboard to further explain a particular section or give students ideas how they could (or will) do something differently. This really helps students understand how to apply Microsoft technology to the problems they are trying to solve far better than just some dry information that has no basis in reality.
3. Participate in class
Unless your instructors have the power of ‘The Amazing Kreskin’, there is no way for them to know that you understand, or don’t
understand what they are talking about during the lecture portion of the class. Raise your hand and ask questions. Believe me, there are others in the class that probably have the same questions, but are too afraid to admit it.
This is probably what baffles me most about students when they come in to take classes. The students normally come in for a reason; they want to learn new technology, they want to hone their skills . I don’t think that I have ever had a student that knew everything, and just felt like dropping a few grand on a class just to get out of the house. So why don’t they like to admit that they don’t know everything when they are in the classroom? Here I’ll make it easy…”Hello, my name is Chip Wenz and I don’t know everything.” See that’s not too hard, is it? Now we can all ask questions and learn something new.
One more thing before I leave this dictum, if you have had experience with a subject in class, mention it. Remember there is a difference between what is in a book and what happens out in the real world. Your experiences will help others understand this very important difference.
4. Do your homework
Yes, homework. I know you’re not in school anymore, but to get the most out of a multiday class you need to review what you covered that day in class and even read ahead to see what you are going to cover tomorrow.
There are a couple of benefits to this. First, you are going to have a lot of new information shoved at you during a multiday (or even a single day) class. Most of what you hear is going to be new and takes a little time to process. If you go home that night and review the material in the book you will get a much better understanding of the material and your retention will be greater You will also be able to highlight the material that the instructor said was important so you know where to find it later.
The second benefit from doing your homework is to see if there are any areas that you need to review the next morning with the instructor. I normally start out mornings with a little review of what was talked about the previous day. If you review the material, any questions that you have can be brought up at this time. If you read a little ahead, you can also start thinking about questions that you may want to ask during the next day’s class.
5. Challenge the instructor
I don’t mean that you should try and take over the class, but I do mean that you should encourage your instructor to think of new ways
to demonstrate or explain concepts that are important to you. A little anarchy can be a good thing.
Now that I have made all the MCT’s out there mad at me, let me explain. As I mentioned above, I am not an all-knowing, all-seeing individual (even if many people want to think I am.) But I do know how to research questions to get the answers. To me this is the fun part about teaching classes. No matter how many times I may have taught a class previously, there may be certain aspects about an application that I haven’t tried before and it takes scenarios from the students to give me the incentive to try new things.
I have to warn you, the results may not be pretty, but what we do find out as a class will normally stick in your head better than hours of boring lecture. A lot of what I now use as examples in my class came from questions and demonstrations that I did in other classes because I did not know how to answer a question. What doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger.
6. Try things out
There have been a number of times that a student will ask me, “what if I do this to my computer or network?” You can fill in the ‘this’ with just about any oddball scenario that might happen in the outside world. My response to this question is usually, “Let’s find out.”
Microsoft started using virtual PCs for all of its labs starting with the Server 2003 core classes. So, no matter how much you mess up a virtual machine you still get it back to a working condition by shutting it down and not saving any changes. So have some fun and try new things out. The labs that you do during the class are there to reinforce the concepts that you went over in that chapter, but they can be a lot like following a cake recipe. Branch out a little; this might be the only chance to try something crazy in your career (at least the administrators at the center I work for frown on my ‘what if’ scenarios with the production servers. Your mileage may vary). Even if you have to miss lunch one day or stay a little after class, the time that you spend breaking things will pay dividends later on when you get back to work.
What it comes down to is that to get the most out of you classroom experience you have to do a little work. Instead of coming into the classroom expecting the instructor to bequeath on you all of the knowledge you will ever need, take an active part. I think that you will be surprised how much more fun the class will be and how much more you will take with you.
More posts from Chip Wenz: Microsoft Training Insider:
How to take a testNo more MCSE? See also, IT Careers topic center on Network WorldGo to the Microsoft Subnet home page for more news, blogs, podcasts.
