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Ask HN: What should I spend my $150 monthly education expense on?

2 points by metra ↗ HN
My company lets me expense $150 dollars a month for computer science & software development education. What should I spend the money on? I've considered the ACM, IEEE, conferences, books, etc but would like an opinion from you guys.

4 comments

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padwiki
What technologies/languages do you want to focus on?
metra
Python and Java; backend stuff. But, more generally, what paid resources are there?
padwiki
Honestly, in your budget, I think your best bet is going to be focusing on building your library. You can get the same benefit from conferences by snagging the webcasts and papers online. Colleges and Universities (other than mine, and our backend courses probably won't be ready for another 6 months or so) don't really teach Python, and the Java they teach is academic. Plus, you are looking at $500-$1000 a credit for anything decent you might find.

Certs are nice for networking and security, but for application development, experience counts for way more.

So, as much as it kind of sucks, loading up on the reading material is where I would spend my budget.