The late comedienne Linda Smith once joked, “I love Waitrose – it’s that little bit more expensive.�

Sad but true, until the recent economic collapse, all of us allegedly believed the view that “It must be good if it costs that much�, or “Let’s be honest, cheap equals crap�. The media re-enforced the view – think of the mouth-watering shots on the M&S ads, with “This is not ordinary food, this is….� Conversely, the stores cheap ranges were devoured by the penny pinchers but not by you and I.

In IT courses, the high end “luxury market� (surely they’re the best - if you have the money - why else would these companies be market leaders?) convinced us that there are IT trainers around who’ll do it less expensively but beware, it won’t be as good.

Then lo and behold, we hover on the brink of financial meltdown, and all at once value takes priority! Middle class mummies stop visiting Waitrose, and instead discover the delights of Aldi and Lidl. Investment bankers and their large bonuses are out of favour, and we all re-evaluate who we’re buying from.

Why were we so impressed by companies charging more? Further investigation into the country’s IT training market, and there’s a lot to discover. Just because industry’s crying out for an ever increasing number of skilled IT professionals, should we really be paying 5k–8k to get qualified, or are we just paying to prop up dinosaurs? It’s a bit ironic that many IT trainers are preaching one thing whilst practicing another - supplying students with pen and paper methods. Is it reasonable to read through books when any IT material can be downloaded onto discs? Why should we drive to training centres, paying even more for our hotel bills to do what we could do at home? 24/7 Interactive learning should be available for me just that – at my convenience, but not at my cost.

With more up-to-date, easier training options on offer at a fraction of the cost of these prices, perhaps we should wake up to the fact that when it comes to electronic learning, value is great quality and great price. We’re moving on in IT training – in the words used by supermarkets, it’s “Simply Value� prices, for “Best Ever� products. In this knowledge hungry world we’re living in, I’d say that’s a step in the right direction.

(C) Scott Edwards - www.learninglolly.com. Scott Edwards has been involved in the IT and Training Industry for 30 years.

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