Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education budget?

Posted by thunkle on Sunday October 16, 2022 @10:59AM
from the ask-hn dept.

I'm a software engineer working on web related tech (servers, websites) for a big well known tech company. My company offers $500 to spend on education (books, courses, etc...) What should I spend it on? Our company uses ruby, typescript mainly for the area I work in. I've been working for about 15 years so I've absorbed most of the basics without reading.

( 17 comments | 2 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by rl1987 on Sunday October 16, 2022 @11:29AM (#33224330)

O'Reilly Learning - $499/yr. for a large library of technical books, videos and a selection of webinars.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by thunkle on Sunday October 16, 2022 @12:13PM (#33224730)

We actually already have access to O'Reilly learning, but I can't say I take advantage of it. How would you approach learning via O'Reilly Learning?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by mdmglr on Sunday October 16, 2022 @09:22PM (#33228880)

Find a book read a chapter a day. Repeat. I sometimes distill what I read into 15 minute “take always” presentations for my team. Helps to reinforce.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by rl1987 on Tuesday October 18, 2022 @09:33AM (#33246853)

Just keep reading and watching stuff on regular basis. Think of it as information gym membership - you're losing it if you're not using it.

Another thing you can try is attending the webinars about something you want to know more about.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by bitxbitxbitcoin on Sunday October 16, 2022 @11:19AM (#33224242)

Attend local events. Buy books. Try a new language.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by thunkle on Sunday October 16, 2022 @12:13PM (#33224734)

Anything in particular?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by joshxyz on Monday October 17, 2022 @06:44AM (#33231804)

you're in HN, the answer is everything about Rust of course ;)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by StayTrue on Sunday October 16, 2022 @11:47AM (#33224518)

Are you interested in traveling to conferences?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by thunkle on Sunday October 16, 2022 @12:12PM (#33224718)

I'd prefer not to travel. I've been to a few conferences, and haven't gotten as much out of them as I'd imagined I would.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by schwartzworld on Sunday October 16, 2022 @12:03PM (#33224638)

$500 won't even pay for the ticket to most conferences.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by solardev on Sunday October 16, 2022 @12:21PM (#33224804)

How about some specific domain that interests you? Graphics, ML, GIS, data science, devops, firmware, crypto, integrated circuits, whatever?

Or learn more about a specific industry that interests you? Film, games, energy, natural resources, healthcare, accounting, finance, whatever?

Software is your pencil, and you might have great penmanship, but there's still infinite topics to create stories around.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by thunkle on Sunday October 16, 2022 @01:00PM (#33225182)

I'm currently interested in roguelike game development, but I probably couldn't justify that as helping my current job.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by psyklic on Sunday October 16, 2022 @09:43PM (#33228997)

The book "Hands-on Rust" might be perfect. It sounds like it's about Rust, but it's moreso about how to build a Roguelike using the ECS pattern. https://pragprog.com/titles/hwrust/hands-on-rust/

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by labarilem on Monday October 17, 2022 @08:19AM (#33232523)

Ok so maybe books/courses about algorithms you could use for the game?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by ilovhn on Sunday October 16, 2022 @12:33PM (#33224922)

Some cloud course/cert exam, like AWS dev associate, would't be a bad idea.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by mynegation on Sunday October 16, 2022 @04:01PM (#33226730)

Not exactly learning, more like training, but for me the biggest ROI was Leetcode. Probably not something you want to expense through your company though, I paid with my own funds.

Outside of this, I am paying for DeepLearning.ai specializations on Coursera and enjoying it a lot. The material itself can be reconstructed from free web resources and textbooks but the value is in systematic syllabus, quizzes and programming assignments.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: How should I spend my companies $500 education bu... by cosmodisk on Sunday October 16, 2022 @04:58PM (#33227142)

Pluralsight, LinkedIn learning, Packt publishing.

[ Parent | on HN ]