Comments on: Keeping your skills sharp

By: Michael Slater

Michael Slater — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 17:06:31 +0000

I think a good seminar or conference can easily pay for itself. There’s nothing quite like watching someone expert in a topic to really learn quickly. And there’s value in just getting out of the day-to-day and hanging out with other people doing the same stuff you’re doing.
I found the small web conference run by the A List Apart folks, called An Event Apart, to be quite enjoyable and useful.
For learning Ruby on Rails, I attended two of the Pragmatic Studio courses, and while they are expensive, they were absolutely worthwhile.
For web designers who are interested in learning more about Ruby on Rails, I’ve put together a seminar that doesn’t assume much programming background and will be offering it in San Francisco in February 2008. Check out
http://www.BuildingWebApps.com
if you’re interested in learning Rails.
Michael

By: Dinu

Dinu — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 03:56:47 +0000

I rely on 4 things:
1. Books
2. Websites (Online Magazines like the ones mentioned)
3. Forums / Blogs
4. Podcasts (no surprises for guessing which one’s my favourite)
While 2 are online, I listen to podcasts while commuting and read books in the toilet :)

By: Harry Atkins

Harry Atkins — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:11:30 +0000

Paul thanks for posting there are some useful links and also appreciate the comments. Biggest worry is spending money only to find the teaching is poor, no follow up support, course notes, out of date information etc etc. The industry could almost do with a "which local" for web designers. Thanks again. Harry

By: Steve Williams

Steve Williams — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 22:16:10 +0000

“However be careful, there is a lot of crap out there teaching bad practice.” -Wise words Paul!
You have the Boag book, Hopefully Boag – The movie!
What about Boag training? Now there is a job title for you…..Paul Boag, Trainer to the minions. Worth giving it a thought?
Steve

By: Elliot

Elliot — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:21:49 +0000

Also Lynda.com, very good web video tutorials, on a vast ammount of web related subjects, and for only $25 a month you get full access to any video, thats less than some of the books, and you can just go month by month depending on your cash situation, thats what I do as a start-up freelancer.

By: Ross Bruniges

Ross Bruniges — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:53:27 +0000

I’m certainly a fan of books. Not only do they provide solutions to real problems but once you have finished reading them they will always be there to help you out some more!
Conferences are also valuable; maybe not for what you learn there but certainly from the networking side – every new person you meet is a potential source of knowledge in the future….