Ian Abramson, president of the Independent Oracle User Group, had a very thoughtful blog posting today regarding spending in the current economic times. Companies have to make tough choices when it comes to spending and sometimes it is difficult to make a difference as a "rank and file" employee. One thing to do is make sure you are getting the most out of what they will give you. This includes making the right choices and pushing the right areas for your career.

I have been attending IOUG events since 2000. This was after attending several classes from Oracle, a couple programming classes, a Sun Solaris class, and some project management classes. The interesting thing is that there are sessions on all of these subjects in the one week of Collaborate and after the session you can have an adult beverage (or a soda) with the presenter and ask him/her real world questions. If you are fortunate enough to have a company that still is able to send you to training, think about the best way to spend those dollars. One week on one subject... or one week on about 400 subjects. Check out the session offerings at the Collaborate 09 site and you can even download a pre-written letter to your manager helping you to sell the experience.

My next post is planned for my adventure while writing my paper for Collaborate so stay tuned. Until then... stay clean!