Perl Training

Experiences, Anecdotes and Vague Conclusions

Dave Cross [email_address]

I run Perl training courses

Doing so since 2001

Alongside conferences

YAPC::Europe UKUUG Conference LPW

Internal courses for companies

Acxiom AMP Morgan Stanley

Public courses

Perl Teach-In UKUUG/O'Reilly

Perl Teach-In

June 2007

Free training course

Sponsored by BBC Backstage

Not originally my idea

Simon Cozens

Japan

Many Perl jobs in London

Not enough experienced programmers

One-day advanced level Perl course

Turn beginner programmers into experienced programmers

50 places

All booked in days

(Remember it was free)

Very positive feedback

ThamesValley.pm

Who attended?

BBC people

A few london.pm people

Lots of people I didn't know

Marketing success

A less successful story

July 2008 Public Perl courses in London

Five days of training

Priced less than QA or Learning Tree

Marketing failure

Charging makes a difference

Need good contacts

Word of mouth not enough

Commercial advertising on Perl Monger mailing lists?

Cancelled due to lack of interest

Need better marketing

UKUUG and O'Reilly

February 2009 Two days of courses

Central London hotel

One day beginners One day advanced

Not aimed at the same people

Recommend three months experience between courses

Marketing needs to make that clearer

Twenty places on each day

Almost sold out

A few london.pm people

Lots of people I didn't know

University staff

Large companies

Interesting omission: Internet start-ups

UKUUG and O'Reilly were happy

Doing it again in November

This time three days

Beginners Intermediate Advanced

mag-sol.com/train/public

University of Westminster

Evening class in Computer Forensics

Computer programmning for data munging

Invited to give evening class in basic Perl

Four hours 6 – 10pm

With practical exercises

Some vague conclusions

People are still interested in Perl

People still want Perl training

Marketing is important

Marketing is hard

Perl Training London 24 - 26 Nov mag-sol.com/train/public