Learning and development in billable focused IT/development consulting company
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
In the IT consulting organisation for which I work, to stay ahead of the competition we have a constant need to develop our team's technical skills in new languages and frameworks.
However, the company is highly focused on billable hours.
This creates a conflict between the need to grow and develop the team and innovate, versus the need to ensure billable ratios remain high.
I'd like to get some feedback on how others manage this issue in their organisations with a view to implementing those ideas in my own workplace.
Financial resources to pay for learning and development activities are not a constraint in this case, but time is very much a constraint.
Many thanks for your advice
management training leadership
asked 2 hours ago
Andy P
111
New contributor
Andy P is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
In the IT consulting organisation for which I work, to stay ahead of the competition we have a constant need to develop our team's technical skills in new languages and frameworks.
However, the company is highly focused on billable hours.
This creates a conflict between the need to grow and develop the team and innovate, versus the need to ensure billable ratios remain high.
I'd like to get some feedback on how others manage this issue in their organisations with a view to implementing those ideas in my own workplace.
Financial resources to pay for learning and development activities are not a constraint in this case, but time is very much a constraint.
Many thanks for your advice
management training leadership
asked 2 hours ago
Andy P
111
New contributor
Andy P is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Fly in the best teachers money can buy?
– meriton
1 hour ago
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
In the IT consulting organisation for which I work, to stay ahead of the competition we have a constant need to develop our team's technical skills in new languages and frameworks.
However, the company is highly focused on billable hours.
This creates a conflict between the need to grow and develop the team and innovate, versus the need to ensure billable ratios remain high.
I'd like to get some feedback on how others manage this issue in their organisations with a view to implementing those ideas in my own workplace.
Financial resources to pay for learning and development activities are not a constraint in this case, but time is very much a constraint.
Many thanks for your advice
management training leadership
asked 2 hours ago
Andy P
111
New contributor
Andy P is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
In the IT consulting organisation for which I work, to stay ahead of the competition we have a constant need to develop our team's technical skills in new languages and frameworks.
However, the company is highly focused on billable hours.
This creates a conflict between the need to grow and develop the team and innovate, versus the need to ensure billable ratios remain high.
I'd like to get some feedback on how others manage this issue in their organisations with a view to implementing those ideas in my own workplace.
Financial resources to pay for learning and development activities are not a constraint in this case, but time is very much a constraint.
Many thanks for your advice
management training leadership
management training leadership
asked 2 hours ago
Andy P
111
New contributor
Andy P is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 2 hours ago
Andy P
111
New contributor
Andy P is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 2 hours ago
Andy P
111
New contributor
Andy P is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 2 hours ago
Andy P
111
asked 2 hours ago
Andy P
111
111
New contributor
Andy P is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Andy P is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Andy P is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Fly in the best teachers money can buy?
– meriton
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Fly in the best teachers money can buy?
– meriton
1 hour ago
Fly in the best teachers money can buy?
– meriton
1 hour ago
Fly in the best teachers money can buy?
– meriton
1 hour ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
up vote
0
down vote
A simple truth that's easier said than done applies: Hire people who are efficient, self-driven learners instead of experts at any particular platform or technology. People who understand the foundations and are able to apply them to the flavor of the month.
Some people want to do the same thing every day, or want to be able to mechanically regurgitate answers. Others are driven by the constant sense of change and the pressure to react quickly. Tailor your hiring processes to find the right people, and the problem - although still present - will become a positive challenge rather than something that quickly cripples your team.
I "grew up" many years ago in a similar environment. There were times where we were only successful because we spent the work day talking with clients and the evenings sitting in our hotel rooms trying to learn what we needed to do in order to deliver what we had just talked about. It was a rush and the people I worked with loved it. Those who didn't, quickly found their way into other career paths. You don't want an environment where people are "pushed" into a 24x7 mentality like that constantly, and you do need some degree of formality and encouragement to learn on the job, but having the right people on the team makes a world of difference.
answered 11 mins ago
dwizum
10.5k32542
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "423"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Andy P is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworkplace.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f124872%2flearning-and-development-in-billable-focused-it-development-consulting-company%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
0
down vote
A simple truth that's easier said than done applies: Hire people who are efficient, self-driven learners instead of experts at any particular platform or technology. People who understand the foundations and are able to apply them to the flavor of the month.
Some people want to do the same thing every day, or want to be able to mechanically regurgitate answers. Others are driven by the constant sense of change and the pressure to react quickly. Tailor your hiring processes to find the right people, and the problem - although still present - will become a positive challenge rather than something that quickly cripples your team.
I "grew up" many years ago in a similar environment. There were times where we were only successful because we spent the work day talking with clients and the evenings sitting in our hotel rooms trying to learn what we needed to do in order to deliver what we had just talked about. It was a rush and the people I worked with loved it. Those who didn't, quickly found their way into other career paths. You don't want an environment where people are "pushed" into a 24x7 mentality like that constantly, and you do need some degree of formality and encouragement to learn on the job, but having the right people on the team makes a world of difference.
answered 11 mins ago
dwizum
10.5k32542
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
A simple truth that's easier said than done applies: Hire people who are efficient, self-driven learners instead of experts at any particular platform or technology. People who understand the foundations and are able to apply them to the flavor of the month.
Some people want to do the same thing every day, or want to be able to mechanically regurgitate answers. Others are driven by the constant sense of change and the pressure to react quickly. Tailor your hiring processes to find the right people, and the problem - although still present - will become a positive challenge rather than something that quickly cripples your team.
I "grew up" many years ago in a similar environment. There were times where we were only successful because we spent the work day talking with clients and the evenings sitting in our hotel rooms trying to learn what we needed to do in order to deliver what we had just talked about. It was a rush and the people I worked with loved it. Those who didn't, quickly found their way into other career paths. You don't want an environment where people are "pushed" into a 24x7 mentality like that constantly, and you do need some degree of formality and encouragement to learn on the job, but having the right people on the team makes a world of difference.
answered 11 mins ago
dwizum
10.5k32542
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
up vote
0
down vote
A simple truth that's easier said than done applies: Hire people who are efficient, self-driven learners instead of experts at any particular platform or technology. People who understand the foundations and are able to apply them to the flavor of the month.
Some people want to do the same thing every day, or want to be able to mechanically regurgitate answers. Others are driven by the constant sense of change and the pressure to react quickly. Tailor your hiring processes to find the right people, and the problem - although still present - will become a positive challenge rather than something that quickly cripples your team.
I "grew up" many years ago in a similar environment. There were times where we were only successful because we spent the work day talking with clients and the evenings sitting in our hotel rooms trying to learn what we needed to do in order to deliver what we had just talked about. It was a rush and the people I worked with loved it. Those who didn't, quickly found their way into other career paths. You don't want an environment where people are "pushed" into a 24x7 mentality like that constantly, and you do need some degree of formality and encouragement to learn on the job, but having the right people on the team makes a world of difference.
answered 11 mins ago
dwizum
10.5k32542
A simple truth that's easier said than done applies: Hire people who are efficient, self-driven learners instead of experts at any particular platform or technology. People who understand the foundations and are able to apply them to the flavor of the month.
Some people want to do the same thing every day, or want to be able to mechanically regurgitate answers. Others are driven by the constant sense of change and the pressure to react quickly. Tailor your hiring processes to find the right people, and the problem - although still present - will become a positive challenge rather than something that quickly cripples your team.
I "grew up" many years ago in a similar environment. There were times where we were only successful because we spent the work day talking with clients and the evenings sitting in our hotel rooms trying to learn what we needed to do in order to deliver what we had just talked about. It was a rush and the people I worked with loved it. Those who didn't, quickly found their way into other career paths. You don't want an environment where people are "pushed" into a 24x7 mentality like that constantly, and you do need some degree of formality and encouragement to learn on the job, but having the right people on the team makes a world of difference.
answered 11 mins ago
dwizum
10.5k32542
answered 11 mins ago
dwizum
10.5k32542
answered 11 mins ago
dwizum
10.5k32542
answered 11 mins ago
dwizum
10.5k32542
10.5k32542
add a comment |
add a comment |
Andy P is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Andy P is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Andy P is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Andy P is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Thanks for contributing an answer to The Workplace Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworkplace.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f124872%2flearning-and-development-in-billable-focused-it-development-consulting-company%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Fly in the best teachers money can buy?
– meriton
1 hour ago