[TriLUG] Class seat available

Tue Aug 30 20:11:39 EDT 2011

I do suspect that some of this is related to the type of material being
developed, but certainly agree that it's not a walk in the park.  I've done
this before, and it wasn't 40 hours per hour of presentation material -
probably closer to 20 man hours (some of the material I'd developed was
split between multiple people).  A 40 hour class took 3 of us about 6
weeks.  However, we knew the material very well to start with, and some of
it was more introductory-level material.  To some extent, you could count
some of the previous presentations some of us had done on the same material
as extra prep time (prep time for those presentations wasn't directly
counted in those 6 weeks, but obviously fed in to the materials).

Often with technical material, once that material is developed, you still
need to keep it relevant and up to date as well.  Not as much time as
initially writing it, certainly, but no one would want an in-depth course on
Linux Kernel 2.0 these days :)

On Tue, Aug 30, 2011 at 8:00 PM, David Both <dboth at millennium-technology.com
> wrote:

> Magnus, I thought about whether to reply to this or not, but I think it is
> a valid question posed as a statement. And I think it deserves some response
> in the name of ALL trainers. I do not take this in any way personally and
> would love to buy you a beer sometime.
>
> The simple answer is that, if you can teach, you might be in the wrong
> business. I love it and enjoy all aspects of it. But consider the following.
> Trainers work very hard and not just during classes.
>
> I have spent years creating coursework and doing training at IBM, Cisco,
> and other places I have worked. I have had months of training in how to
> write courses of all kinds and weeks of training in presentation skills.
>
> The general rule of thumb is that it takes about one week of work to create
> one hour of stand-up lecture / lab training - if you are doing it right. So
> for a 5 day class that is about 40 weeks. We are talking about real training
> here - the nuts and bolts and not just the covers. I think it is important
> to teach WHY things are done the way they are, and how to think about
> resolving problems in a Linux environment, not just force-feed you a long
> list of commands to memorize.
>
> And yes, it did take that long both then and now. For this class I created
> 492 slides and 62 pages of lab projects. All of this was created from
> scratch by me and me alone. I am, after all, a 1 person company as are many
> independent trainers. I will not purchase other companies' books such as the
> Linux+ for my own classes because they do not cover what I think is really
> needed to do the job of system administration on a day to day basis. I do
> teach those classes for other folks, but never for myself or my own
> customers.
>
> And while I do this I also have to market myself and my classes. And find
> the money to keep my business running, including the web site email server,
> and high speed internet connection. And I need to take the time to keep up
> with the latest developments such as the fact that systemd is replacing init
> as PID 1 and what that all means, and then working that into the course in a
> meaningful context.
>
> Second, I have to pay for classroom space. It costs about $3000 - $8000 per
> week to rent a fully equipped classroom. So I rent space from a friend who
> has some available. Then I had to make the space suitable for a classroom.
> Purchase a whiteboard, computers, a projector, laptop large enough to use
> VMs for demonstrations, network switch and cables. And I always purchase the
> little things that make every class more civilized such as bottled water and
> snacks.
>
> I purchased a laser printer that does double-sided printing because it was
> less expensive than having it copied and bound at any of the decent printing
> and copy shops, so I also purchase binders and separator tabs. Little things
> that make the final book easier to use. I duplicate DVDs and labels and
> apply the labels and insert them in sleeves. And the time to do all this
> comes out of my store.
>
> At the moment I have two seats in my classroom. I hope to generate enough
> interest and business to add two more before next spring. I don't think I
> will ever plan to teach more than 6 students at a time because I like to
> maintain the ability to personalize my training. Each class has people with
> unique needs and the individuals come to class with specific problems to
> solve and questions related to those problems. It is my intent to answer
> each and every one, usually so long as it falls withing the scope of the
> class and many times even when it does not simply because that is where the
> students want and need to go.
>
> And lastly, Magnus, I offer YOU the challenge and opportunity to take my
> class in September (Probably the last one I will run this year) and pay me
> what you think it is worth at the end. And then report back to this group
> what you really think when it is over.
>
> I would be happy to provide you with references from previous students if
> you would like.
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> On 08/30/2011 06:26 PM, Magnus wrote:
>
>> On Aug 30, 2011, at 2:56 PM, David Both wrote:
>>
>>> $1995.00
>>>
>> Clearly I'm in the wrong line of work.
>>
>>
>>
-- 
Michael Kimsal
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