Is there, in fact, a Linux training market out there?

[Mark Lane]

On Mon, May 31, 2010 at 8:40 AM, Robert P. J. Day <rpjday-L09J2beyid0N/H6P543EQg at public.gmane.org>wrote:

>
>  regarding my previous musings on the market for actual, professional
> linux training around here ...
>
> On Sun, 30 May 2010, Colin McGregor wrote:
>
> > This is an area of real interest to me as I am interested in doing
> > Linux education. I don't know what sort of a pay market is out
> > there. I have been happy to do some volunteer training for Planet
> > Geek (www.planetgeek.ca), Free Geek Toronto (freegeektoronto.org) as
> > well as talking at GTALug (http://gtalug.org/wiki/Colin_McGregor)
> > and Unix Unanimous (gtalug.org/wiki/Unix_Unanimous). For the most
> > part I enjoy doing volunteer presentations, but ... they don't put
> > food on the table...
>
>   and there it is.  we have buckets in common -- i've given numerous
> presentations for my local LUG (in fact, i'm doing another short one
> at the very next meeting:  http://kwlug.org/node/692).  i've been a
> speaker at two ontario linux fests.  i've written loads of tutorials
> and posted them online for the taking.  but, in the end, none of that
> is billable.
>
>  i love training.  and i'm pretty sure i'm good at it by now.  :-)
> but this brings us back to the fundamental questions:
>
> 1) *is* there a linux training market out there and ...
>
> 2) if there is, has it already been claimed by the big vendors so that
> there's nothing left for anyone else?
>
>  granted, if one is offering courses in niche topics like kernel
> programming, the market for that is *clearly* going to be small.  but
> it's precisely *because* it's a small market that most of the big
> players aren't going to spend a lot of time trying to grab it.  and if
> one has really, really good courseware and a market the size of
> toronto, is it unreasonable to think you might be able to sell a
> course every month or two?
>
>  anyway, it would be nice to hear from folks on this list whose
> companies have *sent* them for linux training.  tell us about it.
> what are the hot areas?  are you going back for more?  etc, etc.  i
> hate to give up on my dream of high-tech linux training, but if
> there's just nothing there in terms of a market, i really should know
> that and accept it.  thanks.
>
> rday
>
> p.s.  a few years back, when i tried to get established in the K-W
> area to do training, i offered introductory linux training at a
> stupidly low price to local companies just to break in.
>
>  typically, high-end training like linux sells for around $4-500 per
> day per student, so sending a single person on a 5-day course would
> set a company back around $2000-2500.  and if travel's involved, well,
> naturally the costs go up (although if you're in TO, chances are you
> won't need to travel).
>
>  my offer was for the single-day courses that i had on hand, the
> total cost would be between $1000-1500 for the day for *an entire
> class*.  that is, on-site training, the client could fill the room
> (hopefully, they had computers to use).  said client could put up to
> 12 people in the class so that the average cost per student per day
> would be about $100.  an absurdly good deal for the client, and still
> enough to make me sufficiently happy.
>
>  i got one day of training from one local client and that's it.
> granted, it might be because no one knew who i was at the time, but
> even after that, it was nigh impossible to sell training around here.
>
>  anyway, enough rambling, but if anyone in TO is considering linux
> training of one form or another, drop me a note.  maybe i can help,
> maybe i can't.  but you'll never know if you don't ask.  :-)
>
>
> Well at least your lug meetings get turnouts so you can practise. I was
getting same 4 people every week and that was it. People talked about
helping but it rarely happened. I guess it's time to schedule another
meeting and see if any more shows.

-- 
Mark Lane <lmlane-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>
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