Recently I took some training for a potential job for a web hosting company. Though I paid attention, took notes etc. in the end I did not pass the test for employment. This has given me an opportunity to reflect on how I could have better approached my training and as a result may have been more successful. The following are some suggestions I have for my future trainings and maybe these ideas will help other potential students.  Many of these may have already been done, but maybe need to be done more effectively.

1. Do not be stingy on note taking. Have plenty of paper and writing instruments. If you have access to to type them up in class that may be better. Many people can type faster than they can write and one’s notes are much more coherent. I have a tendency to run out of room on paper and write smaller and thus what I wrote becomes incoherent.
2. If you hand write your notes, type them up that same night, after the training. If you wait, there is a good chance that the notes begin to lack meaning in their abbreviated form unless you have the time to expand upon your notes while your knowledge and memory are fresh. You also have the opportunity to add additional material while it is fresh that you may not have done in the first round of notes.
3. Another observation I’ve made is that I don’t usually look at the notes I’ve written for lectures when they remain hand written. Other people have made the same observation. I have a much higher chance of re-reading notes if they are in a typed form because they’re easier and faster to read.
4. Some trainers are more inclined to answer questions than others. Be quick to note the personalities of your trainers to see where each of their skillsets resides.
5. If you are given an agenda for the week, try to do as many things in advance as you can. As you work through the practices, write down the questions you have for your instructors the following day.
6. If you are confused about a concept sometimes asking why things are as they are can help us understand the logic behind something that may contribute to overall comprehension.
7. I find that if I stay at the place of training then I am more likely to continue to study after the day is over. Once I go home, I’m not as devoted to dedicate an evening to training. There was a fellow trainer and I who stayed in the lunch room to study which can be useful.
8. If you do study together, stay on target. Making friends is great, but don’t waste time socializing when training needs to be done.
9. Some trainers may permit you to stay in the lab and to continue to practice. This is particularly useful for those of us learning new operating systems. I don’t have a Linux work station at home so didn’t have the opportunity to practice shell commands. During training, I learned that the internet may offer free Linux boxes to practice on.
10. It’s amazing the source of helpful web sites there are. I have found some wonderful videos on training for Linux and I during training was introduced to a site called Chasms that will provide pretend screens of all type of cell phones so that you could become familiar with different phones as if you had one. There are some wonderful people that offer resources like this. Take advantage of them and promote them as thanks for those who provide such educational opportunities. I need to go back to chasms and do a like to promote it on my Facebook account.
11. Sometimes neighbors can be a great asset in understanding. Be friendly to everyone and courteous and others may be more inclined to answer a question when a trainer is not.
12. If you have quizzes, the questions you get wrong will show you the area you need to study on in more depth.

I learned a lot of wonderful things during training at a potential job. Hopefully this experience will teach me how to do better in future training opportunities and I hope these recommendations will help with other potential students.