How much training and professional development is enough?

["Nyman, Rikki" <Rikki -dot- Nyman -at- ALLIEDSIGNAL -dot- COM>]

Hi!

Lani Hardage wondered which conference was best if you only get one.
I was wondering how many of you get to go and under what circumstances?
How much personal professional development do you do?  How successfully
can you blend new learning into your jobs and how much to you have to
add by way of conferences, classes, and reading?

Since I am putting together my personal objectives for my boss right
now, I would like to know how many of us get to go to conferences (any
size, shape, or color) as a part of our job.

I'm curious about the professional development perks the rest of you
get, especially if you are working captive.  My company doesn't pay for
the engineers' professional memberships let alone the technical
communicators. That pretty much puts conferences way off to the side
unless we want to pay for it ourselves and take vacation time to go.  Is
this common?

Also, at my company we are a "learning organization", but only 40 hours
a year is actually mandated.  I find that I personally need to spend a
lot more time reading and taking classes to remain current in this
field.

My questions to you then are

1 --  Does your company pay professional dues?  If so, what type?
2 --  Does your company pay for conferences in any way (e.g. paid time
off, complete reimbursement, etc.)?
3 --  Are you encouraged to go to professional conferences?
4 --  Is there a formal training policy? Informal?  What are the
expectations of management?
5 --  What do you feel is the minimum you need to learn to stay current?

This is an "on the fly" query -- not a serious survey, though I think
the information might be useful to many of us. Feel free to wax to
poetic.  Reply to me directly if you are shy.

I'm curious enough that I'll compile the responses and post them to the
list in a summary after Christmas break.

Thanks!

Rikki

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