SharePoint environment, and/or losing large amounts of money, we tend to accept that Stages 1 and 2 shouldn’t last too long, and that it’s worth investing time and money in training. It is very important to consider that training works through competency. Consider the common activity of learning to drive a car. Think of all the would-be Michael Schumachers in cars displaying ‘L’ plates, their terrifi ed parents, and the number of driving schools making billions from the accepted norm of the need for formal training. The other accepted norm of ‘mission critical’ competency is that we need to prove Stage 4 has been reached by achieving recognition and certifi cation. This then allows us to perform various other job roles and, for some, it acts as a pre-requisite qualifi cation for further specialist training. The fi nal point to note is the model is cyclical, that is, skills generally need to be renewed or modifi ed over time. This is not just because ‘familiarity breeds contempt’, but for the environment in which the original skill set was valid has probably changed. Are your SharePoint skills ‘mission critical’?
Or, if crashing your car is obviously a bad thing, then is regularly crashing your SharePoint environment equally unacceptable? If the answer is ‘yes’ then doesn’t that mean
from the outset, without admitting defeat, that some investment in training is justifi ed? Even if you answer ‘no’, implying you’re using SharePoint as a hobby, not as a means to make a living, investing in up to £500 of training packages will help you achieve more satisfaction and avoid some sleepless nights. Obviously, SharePoint web development, administration or architecture involves far more diverse skill sets and underpinning knowledge than driving a car. And IT industry bodies have already moved into defi nitions of competency and to job roles in SharePoint. There are already recognised Microsoft Certifi cation tests. The Microsoft Offi ce Specialist (MOS) has
emerged from Offi ce 2010 and the integration available for SharePoint 2010, which is now seen as part of Offi ce 2010. Microsoft certifi cation exams such as 77-886 for SharePoint have appeared for the fi rst time, allowing people to engage with the actual use of SharePoint aiming to get a MOS certifi cation. For SharePoint training to really work, there needs to be a link from training to ensure the learning has been taken on board. People believe that when somebody goes for training, they will return wiser and better for the experience. In most cases, they may see a gain in productivity, but whether they reached their full potential is normally impossible to judge – unless some kind of pre-requisite self-test is available.
10 December 2012 | Volume 22 – Issue 4
If crashing your car is obviously a bad thing, then is regularly crashing your SharePoint environment equally unacceptable?
SELF-PACED TRAINING Given the intangible nature of traditional training benefi ts, there is a natural appeal to invest in tangible training products, as well as the additional benefi ts that self-paced training brings, such as savings in travel and accommodation costs and so on. Self-paced training always begins with the humble book – the original self-paced training package which still provides the low-cost learning option, and may be suffi cient if your learning requirements are modest or you have no time pressures. However, SharePoint Web Development is a practical skill, so books that include the opportunity for hands-on activity are a more interesting choice.
For instance, WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2010
Programming, SharePoint Development Recipes and SharePoint 2010 Development contain many worked through examples of code ready used, and Microsoft Offi ce SharePoint Server 2010 Administrators companion includes scripts and code blocks to apply to your SharePoint site collections and servers. Additionally, virtually all SharePoint books now come as e-books making them easier to get to. Some people may argue this point. One SharePoint architect I spoke to indicated that having an e-book cluttered the desktop, as opposed to having the book opened so they could work through a problem or understand how to do something. On the other hand, an e-book is considered useful because for those who need access to a script it’s a ‘simple’ case of copying the script into a console from an e-book.
COMPUTER BASED TRAINING
Computer based training (CBT) is one of those touchstones that promises much, but often disappoints. Part of the problem was the need for high cost specialist software and/or lack of mainstream, high level authoring tools and the special skills required to create the relevant packages. Another problem is the amount of overhead administration given that the CBT would most likely record results of the ‘student’ and these
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