Comments on: Not Allowed to Learn on the Job

By: Ben Snider

Ben Snider — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 23:34:00 +0000

For certain things this it is entirely acceptable, and even a positive behavior, to learn on the job. Web and mobile developers especially live in such a fast paced environment that continuous education and on the job learning is almost a necessity just to keep up.

However, this is not say that all types of on the job learning are OK. If, for example you were hired as an expert practitioner of some technology, then needing to learn that technology on the job would be somewhat dishonest. Needing to learn fundamental knowledge on the job (things you would learn in a degree program) also seems like taking things too far. There might be other specific cases here, but indeed I don’t feel like the person who asked this question falls into any of these camps.

But yes overall I absolutely agree with your sentiments on this. Continuous learning and self improvement are things an employer should seek to encourage in all their employees. Employers who actively prohibit this kind of behavior are just asking for high turnover and sub-par employees.

By: jsonmez

jsonmez — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 00:04:00 +0000

That is fantastic. Thanks for sharing that. I wish that more companies adopted that kind of policy around learning.

By: Sander Rossel

Sander Rossel — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 10:28:00 +0000

Great post John, I fully agree!
To anonymous mr. X I can say I’ve been in the same position. For me it was a little different as I started working at a company with 0 knowledge of experience in IT and they trained me. Next to that I did a lot of reading and practice in my spare time. So that was all really great in the beginning, but when I was up to speed (after two to three months) I continued training at home while at work I just did my job. The result was that my technical knowledge became unparalleled within the company and even though I had no formal education I became lead developer with a pretty good salary!
And, as John said, when I needed to do something at work that I didn’t know about (yet), like some third party tool, of course I got the time to figure it out while at work.

However, some of my coworkers got like a day training, or two even got an entire morning of training each week. And I got nothing because “I didn’t need it.” Well, sure I didn’t need it, I spent many hours in my spare time doing what they were now doing in company time!
But at the end I was better paid, I had no problems finding a new job (which I didn’t get because of the training issue), and I simply just feel good about myself for being a true professional with the skills to writing good software.

So bottom line is that I’ve felt resentment, but then I realized those other people choose mediocrity while I choose something else. I choose bettering myself and hoping it someday pays off. So ask yourself, what do you want out of life? Do you want to spent your free time doing fun stuff (although studying can be pretty fun too!) while being mediocre at your job, probably being a wage slave until your retirement. Or do you want to better yourself, stand out from the crowd, get that recognition, and hopefully one day get that promotion, earn more, be more, know more?

Whatever you pick, just don’t forget life isn’t all work. Sometimes you just need to take a break too. Hope that helps.