From owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jul 5 18:58:58 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A0C6716A4CE for ; Mon, 5 Jul 2004 18:58:58 +0000 (GMT) Received: from pilchuck.reedmedia.net (pilchuck.reedmedia.net [209.166.74.74]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 45C4B43D46 for ; Mon, 5 Jul 2004 18:58:58 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from reed@reedmedia.net) Received: from reed by pilchuck.reedmedia.net with local-esmtp (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 1BhYfy-0000Li-00; Mon, 05 Jul 2004 11:58:50 -0700 Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 11:58:50 -0700 (PDT) From: "Jeremy C. Reed" To: bja@Illinois.DynDNS.Org In-Reply-To: <32837.192.168.1.238.1089022879.squirrel@Illinois.DynDNS.Org> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII cc: "freebsd-jobs@freebsd.org" Subject: Re: training (was Resourceful BSD/Linux Network Administrator) X-BeenThere: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Non technical items related to the community List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 05 Jul 2004 18:58:58 -0000 On Mon, 5 Jul 2004 bja@Illinois.DynDNS.Org wrote: > > As for learning via reading: that is fine for many -- including myself. > > But many students need the extra push by actually attending a structured, > > hands-on class. Also classes, even running at a slow pace, can cover a > > lot more than a student trying to self-teach themselves. > > I disagree here. I'm a self-taught student and I doubt any classes would > have taught me as much as installing the system and using it day to day > for a couple months. I eventually set up a FreeBSD and my family and I > rely on it for just about all computer functions. > > Hands-on is great, but classes are not needed. Many of my students have limited time and limited interest to learn FreeBSD on their own. But their employers are interested for them to take multiple days of hands-on training. Also, learning over a "couple months" is too slow versus a class that can teach many skills with real experiences in a few days. And as others mentioned, trying to learn on your own may not provide with the real-world experiences that a qualified instructor can provide. An example of something we do in some of our classes is teach basics of BIND and Apache, and then the students apply the skills to configure named.conf, create their own zone file(s) and then setup httpd.conf for virtual hosting, for some real hands-on experiences. Often I have students that have years of Unix experience, even back to the 1980's, who have told me many times: "I didn't know you could do it that way", "I wish I knew that before", "That is something I had difficulty learning on my own", "I have wanted to learn that for a long time", etc. Yes, the students could have learned in an alternative way, but sometimes paying money encourages you to learn differently. Jeremy C. Reed open source, Unix, *BSD, Linux training http://www.pugetsoundtechnology.com/ p.s. Notice the To: line. It says "jobs" but the address is chat. Funny.