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Yakov Fain's Java Blog: Why Open Source Training Is So Expensive?

I decided to sign up for JBoss, Hibernate and Spring training classes and checked the prices offered by the vendors
By Yakov Fain
Article Rating:
January 7, 2006 11:00 AM EST
Reads:
 17,748
Why Open Source Training Is So Expensive?

I decided to sign up for  JBoss, Hibernate and Spring training classes and checked the prices offered by  the vendors of these products.

Let’s  go to Hibernate.org.

Four days JBoss training would cost me: in New York $3250, in London 2150 pounds, in Paris 2500 euros,

I found the great deal: in Cape Town the early bird tuition is only $1600 for four days of JBoss! Check the prices for the air tickets, and kill two birds with one stone: visit South Africa and learn the basics of JBoss.

Two days of Hibernate training would cost me: in New York $2250, in London on January 24-25 it’s $2600!!! Hey guys, come to New York. Everything is dirt cheap in America! The English language will sound a little weird to your ear,  but as a side bonus, you’ll  visit New York in addition to learning Hibernate!

In Paris, they need three days to teach Hibernate and charge 1495 euros for this.  Are Parisians slow learners? Just kidding, I love Paris!

Now let’s look at the “Spring Framework from the source” at springframework.com.

Four days of training in London in February will cost you 1990 pounds. In Norway, the same course (after converting the currency) will cost you $3667. But if you’ll register by January 20, you’ll save $600. Sweet, isn’t it?

So $9000 and two weeks later,  I can become a junior JBoss, Hibernate and Spring developer.  I wonder how much such training costs in India?  I wonder if I'll be better off flying for two weeks to India  to learn these tools and visit this beautiful country?  Do not be surprised if one day such trips for  software training will become a routine procedure.

These “open source” prices are ridiculous. I wonder what’s the rationale behind setting the prices that high?

posted Saturday, 7 January 2006


Published January 7, 2006 – Reads 17,748
Copyright © 2006 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
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More Stories By Yakov Fain

Yakov Fain is a Managing Director of Farata Systems, consulting, training and product company. He has authored several Java books, dozens of technical articles. SYS-CON Books released his latest co-authored book , Rich Internet Applications with Adobe Flex and Java: Secrets of the Masters in Spring 2007. Sun Microsystems has nominated and awarded Yakov with the title Java Champion. He leads the Princeton Java Users Group. He is an Adobe Certified Flex Instructor. Yakov co-athored the O'Reilly book "Enterprise Application Development with Flex". He twits at twitter.com/yfain.

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Most Recent Comments
Yakov 01/10/06 11:46:03 AM EST

Chris,

I have three questions for you:

1. Would you pay this amount out of your own pocket for this training (again, I'm not questioning the quality of this training)?

2. Do you think the tuition is expensive for a regular developer willing to learn Spring?

3. How many people are in your group?
Chris Beels 01/10/06 10:49:31 AM EST

> the names of the instructors are not advertised

I beg to differ, in the case of Spring at least. As they note on their training site (http://www.interface21.com/training), you "get your training directly from the people who built the Spring framework." I can back this up, we are being trained right now by one of the principal Framework contributors and one of the authors of Pro Java with Spring. It's hard to beat that kind of experience in a trainer.
Chris Beels 01/10/06 10:49:25 AM EST

> the names of the instructors are not advertised

I beg to differ, in the case of Spring at least. As they note on their training site (http://www.interface21.com/training), you "get your training directly from the people who built the Spring framework." I can back this up, we are being trained right now by one of the principal Framework contributors and one of the authors of Pro Java with Spring. It's hard to beat that kind of experience in a trainer.
Yakov Fain 01/10/06 08:43:31 AM EST

>Could the rationale be "you get what you pay for?"

I do not think so. I have no doubt that they have experienced instructors, but I also know the training business as an insider (meaning I understand the expenses). What makes any training more valuable then others? Instructors. Since the names of the instructors are not advertised, I can assume that they are not any better than the ones from IBM, SUN or Microsoft.

The only other thing that can make this training more valuable than others is massage or lap dancing for the attendees :)

They charge the premium, because they can (thank you, B.C.). I hope competition will balance the cost soon.
Chris Beels 01/09/06 08:05:17 PM EST

I think it's like airline business class tickets...they're just aimed at a different (read: corporate) audience than the more commoditized program. They're also more intensive and hands-on.

I started a Core Spring training course today (paid in full by my employer - thank goodness) and it's truly one of the most excellent learning experiences I've had.
Matt Raible 01/09/06 03:14:14 PM EST

Could the rationale be "you get what you pay for?" ;-)
Robin 01/07/06 12:23:32 PM EST

I agree with Yakov on this. I was just checking the prices for learning the Red hat linux and training courses for RHCE(Red Hat Certified Engineer) . Its just crazy . Its just ridiculous. How different are these guys from Microsoft(I am not a Microsoft supporter,infact I work on Open Source platforms myself) , its just that they keep marketing themselves as holy "Open Source Vendors" and then charge so much for their training and support. I really look forward to going to India for getting training for RHCE or RHCT(certified Technician) sometime soon,if things just keep going like this.
SYS-CON Italy News Desk 01/07/06 12:19:23 PM EST

I decided to sign up for JBoss, Hibernate and Spring training classes and checked the prices offered by the vendors of these products. Let?s go to Hibernate.org. Four days JBoss training would cost me: in New York $3250, in London 2150 pounds, in Paris 2500 euros, I found the great deal: in Cape Town the early bird tuition is only $1600 for four days of JBoss! Check the prices for the air tickets, and kill two birds with one stone: visit South Africa and learn the basics of JBoss.