mindgraffiti

Workshops, seminars, classes and courses. How the heck do other professionals find them? I am in search of some practical training in JavaScript. While there are many free resources and tutorials available, as well as a slew of online courses, I need something with a little more substance - live help. A person I can talk to face to face when I have a question. When I am learning something new and complex, it is easier to grok the big picture when I have access to a local expert.

Of the few workshops I have found locally, JavaScript has become a hot commodity - the cost for a 2 day workshop can run between $800 and $1600 for a course titled Intro to JavaScript! AJAX must be the best buzzword around, because classes for JavaScript and XML are almost always sold out.

On the bright side, we have already been approved to go to a Dreamweaver refresher course (since we are migrating from GoLive to Dreamweaver) and if I can find a reasonably priced JavaScript or AJAX workshop, it is likely to get approved as well.

Like the CSS training Tim and I attended, I feel like I can read the code and know what it does just fine, but I am not confident enough to program it myself. And like the CSS training, all I needed was a block of time to sit down with another professional and practice. The resources we were left with afterwards have helped push us into more advanced CSS territory. I am hoping to do the same with JavaScript. While I understand there is no need to reinvent the wheel - when methods already exist that solve a problem gracefully, I use it - but I do tire of leaning on others’ work. It would be nice to occasionally have something to contribute to the developer community, too, instead of always taking.