[TYPO3-english] TYPO3 Training Method Survey

[Virgil Huston]

Hi Andi,

This is a great note, which is why the delay in responding as it really made
me think. See my responses below.

On Fri, May 29, 2009 at 11:16 PM, Andreas Becker <ab.becker at web.de> wrote:

> Hi Virgil
> Where is Part 2 and 3 of this survey?

VH- this is just the beginning, I hope, that will lay the ground work for
going deeper into the topic. I felt a rather simple survey was needed to 1)
set the baseline, 2) be easy and quick to complete, thus encouraging maximum
participation, and 3) be pretty easy to analyze.

>
>
> Your questionnaire is interesting but unfortunately it is only asking
> general questions about how to learn but not what would be the best way for
> TYPO3 to learn and WHY - It is simply much to general to present an
> (incomplete) list of learning methods to a community.


VH- the survey is asking what the best methods are from the choices offered,
along with an open ended question for methods that you feel are missing.
This is not the time to include the soecific "why" questions

> Also I am missing some
> more in deep examples to be evaluated:
>
> i.e. take a WEC Class and ask what people like, why and why not
> i.e. take some commercial TYPO3 Videos and ask the same questions
> i.e. take some examples from books and ask the same
> i.e. take the podcasts and ask why they are good for learning or why not -
> what could be improved
> and so on

VH-I agree with this and maybe I can set up some experiments to cover such
things. I was thinking that, once the top methods are identified, then we
move into questions like this. However, this is not easy to control an
experiment like this remotely, so requires much thought.

>
>
> There are so many examples of TYPO3 Leanring content available in the
> Internet which could be used for this evaluation and to develop a real good
> concept for a New Way To Learn Typo3!
>
> I.e the best way of learning is always a combination of different methods
> and channels.
> and than there are lots of problems not mentioned.

VH-I agree again.

>
>
> Language Barrier:
>
>   1. There are lots of Video Trainings which aren't actual usable for
>   people who don't know German as they are NOT in English
>   2. Most communications are old om the German Mailing lists and people who
>   don't understand German are simply out
>   3. Most literature is in German

VH-I am aware of this, that is one reason I am very interested in the
European and Asian (and other regions, like India) responses, to see what
may be missing from one language group to another. The survey is getting
great participation from Europe so far, much more so than anywhere else,
including the US.

>
>
> User Groups - Social Gatherings:
>
>   1. Over Year and actually still TYPO3 is mainly focusing on a community
>   in Europe (mainly Germany) instead of spreading the word worldwide and
>   getting involved more people i.e. from Asia, even Africa or South
> America.
>   Beside a little Australia and US there is simply nothing!
>   2. Snow Board Tour, DeveloperDays, T3Conn ... take place mainly in
>   Germany and its surrounding countries. Now even the TYPO3 Integrator
>   Certification is NOT available here in Asia where people would like to
> take
>   the exams too I guess.
>   3. The Integration of people from low cost countries gets often very hard
>   discussed on forums and lists and this isn't really useful to build up a
>   worldwide community, as these people do a very good job and meanwhile are
>   the ones spreading the word of TYPO3 to their own regions often facing
> now
>   huge Joomla and Drupal UserGroups. They had ben using the other approach
> and
>   spread the word to the world and are now fast growing in these countries
> to
>   create and discover new markets - TYPO3 not.


VH-again, I agree, I have already identified methods that were not listed
from the open ended question and I an adding your note to the results to be
used in looking at the open ended responses. I also hope you complete the
survey even if you think is it lacking in some things.

>
>
> On Site Trainings, Search for Qualified Developers, Prices - Costs
>
>   1. we i.e. have given several Trainings in the past years at UNESCO here
>   in Bangkok with great success after web format had started with the first
>   training in Thailand at all in 2006. We have now a very small - more
>   internal - ThaiPo3 usergroup. But regional distances are huge here and
>   therefor TYPO3 User Group Meetings like you have i.e. in Stuttgart or
>   elsewhere are simply not possible and affordable (traveling costs).
>   2. We talked to companies, agencies and developers here and they really
>   like TYPO3 when they see it, but they simply can't find TYPO3 Developers
> or
>   developers who would like to invest in TYPO3 even they already are
> setting
>   up lots of websites in Joomla and making good money with it! TYPO3 is
> more
>   expensive than a Joomla Page and people don't have often so much funds to
>   pay for these expenses!
>   3. While in Germany manpower is expensive in most of the South East Asian
>   Countries + India man power is very very cheap and therefore still most
> of
>   the websites are simple individual html/php sites. People even do see the
>   great benefit of a CMS at all!
>
> Longterm Continuous Support (i.e. Magento, eZ-Publish, ... )
>
>   1. TYPO3 is still missing some kind of valuable support model. The TYPO3
>   Integrator sounds nice but when you tell people here about it they start
>   laughing as they don't want a TYPO3 Integrator they want somebody who can
>   build the site on time with a high quality. In other words people in
> these
>   countries look for what you do and not for what you have a paper or
>   certificate for.
>   2. On the other hand nearly all are meanwhile looking for long term
>   support and therefore looking for agencies who can provide them with
> these
>   support (especially a bit bigger companies) They don't like anymore the
>   switching forth and back between developers who are perfect for the
> moment
>   an than gone and the next one needs lots of time to get into the old
> TYPO3
>   System.
>   3. More and more people also want support meanwhile 24/7 and don't care
>   where in the world the supporter is helping. They don't need somebody
>   holding hands onsite but somebody who can help fast and when help is
> needed.
>   i.e. we give e-, skype, phone and chat support for WEC and T3Pack (which
> is
>   an extended WEC and 100% compatible to WEC) TYPO3 websites, but often
> people
>   contact us with their TYPO3 website problems which are not WEC and it is
>   much harder to help them as we don't have a similar system what they are
>   running here onsite and first need to figure out how their site has been
>   build. >> Standards (like those known from WEC) are missing!
>
> Internships
>
>   1. The best way to learn TYPO3 is to learn it from somebody who has
>   already experiences in setting up TYPO3 website. Therefore more
> Internships
>   would be needed.
>   2. i.e we provide students from all around the world who would like to
>   develop website using TYPO3, eZ-Publish, Magento, Presto, Silverstripe,
>   Drupal and Web 2.0 Mashups and Applications i.e. for Marketing to come to
>   us. Here they can work together with local developers. We provide them
> with
>   a maximum 3 year visa and work permit. They need to bring good skill sets
>   and be willing to train our local people. It helps us to train our local
>   students and developers in "western work habits" by foreigners, it also
>   trains their English skills and it helps us a lot to get more TYPO3
>   developers - as our company is looking mainly for Interims with TYPO3
> skill
>   sets! On the other hand our interims enjoy the flexible halfday working
>   hours and the flair of ICT Innovation Paradise in Andaman Sea - to be an
> ICT
>   (TYPO3) pioneer with great recreational effect :-)
>
> Bringing the world together will help us to lower any TYPO3 learning
> barriers and to discover new markets all around the world. You yourself are
> also active in Asia/China an I guess you know what great market we are
> talking about!
>
> Get it for TYPO3


VH-Andi, this is a great post and I appreciate you taking the time to write
it. I will use it in the analyses of the open-ended question responses.

Cheers,
Virgil

>
>
> Andi
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>



-- 
Virgil Huston
COO, Acqal Corporation - Official TYPO3 Agency for Support, Training, and
Website Migration
+1 (866) 924-8645 * +1 (404) 963-8850 x101 * Fax +1 (866) 275-7385
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