Training, hot seat style
We have been stewing here at CMD for some time over training. Command Prompt actually does quite a bit of PostgreSQL Training. In the 12 months preceding April of 2007 we had taught a dozen classes on PostgreSQL. These classes have always been directed at on-site training, meaning that someone from CMD would travel to the customer site to train their employees. We did this for two reasons. One, because CMD is a widely dispersed corporation without any central location. Two, because we felt that our other training partners (namely OTG and Big Nerd Ranch) were better suited to classroom style training. We still believe that and thus Command Prompt, will not be offering any classroom style training in the foreseeable future. However, after speaking with many clients there appears to be a distinct lack of specific topic training. Most of our clients don't want a 4 day class on Introduction to PostgreSQL, or PostgreSQL Administration (although we teach both). Most of our clients want short, specific classes on items such as managing a backup infrastructure, understanding PostgreSQL I/O, and Tuning Autovacuum. All of which, we will be teaching this year. So what makes these classes different? The classes are short. No more than 8 hours, broken up over two days. The classes are taught virtually, using industry standard remote desktop and teleconference technologies. The classes are going to be relatively inexpensive with an 8 hour course costing higher than 100.00 but less than 500.00 (no, we haven't come up with our actual pricing strategy yet). Lastly, the name! All marketers beware, Hot Seat Training now belongs to Command Prompt, Inc. ;)