Ask HN: My company provides yearly bonus for self-education. What should I buy? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: My company provides yearly bonus for self-education. What should I buy?

3 pointsenaqxx14 comments

There is a yearly bonus (600$) my employer provides for self-education. Usually, we spend it to attend some conference, but this is pretty difficult time, you know :) Also we have monthly bonus on books and access to online resources: O'Reilly Media and Udemy.

I am a Full-stack/Cloud software engineer so it should be related to my position, but not strictly. Let's say it can be iOS/Android/Web development, Back-end development, Machine Learning, Cloud Architectures, Theoretical Computer Science, Cybersecurity, etc.

After some research, I have found most of the resources are already free. I have had an idea to buy several classical CS texts (specifically related to Math Logic and Complexity) or purchase some online courses, but I can miss something valuable. Maybe it can be useful for somebody to suggest decent resources I can spend this bonus.

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A lot of resources are free, but I still find plenty of value in the printed word.

For example, I bought Practical Common Lisp despite it also being available electronically for free, because I tend to write a lot of margin notes and highlight things that I know I'll want to see again. It is so much quicker for me to pick that book up and get to the info I want than it is for me to scroll through a PDF for the same info (besides lacking my personal notes). I have multiple random electronic copies I don't bother looking at, and one printed one that I refer back to quite often.

If you want to take some courses in complexity, check out complexityexplorer.org. They are run by the Santa Fe institute, so you know they're top of the line. You can generally take the courses for free since they are offered through grants, but of course you can donate and/or buy some schwag to support more of their (incredible) course and tutorial offerings. I just finished a course with them today, actually, and am working on completing a third from them.

Thank you, very valuable answer.

On the question. Is this something you need to show a receipt for? Or is this just given. If just given id use it to found my own self study or to do a project where i could learn something along with maybe gain wealth or ease of life.

Yeah we need approve for the given resource.

>Also we have monthly bonus on books and access to online resources: O'Reilly Media and Udemy.

Is it restricted to only those? And there's plenty of self-published books on leanpub/gumroad (usually with sample chapters provided).

If you already got all you need maybe you can save the company some money :)

Why should (s)he care about saving the company some money?

Because their paycheck doesn't come from fairies. It comes from the money the company earns (that is, income minus expenses). If they don't need it, why spend it? Why not leave the company a few more dollars?

They do not come from fairies, but from mostly creative people like developers and designers. They provide this education bonus because they see value in highly motivated and educated personnel.

Where do you think those extra dollars go to? C-suite or stock buy back if public.

buddy up with a teammate and buy each other's self-published courses

This works. I used to teach penetration testing at a particular big blue TLA, and instead of reinventing the wheel, I teamed up with someone who had made a "General" version of the "Advanced" course I was teaching. We did a pretty good job of keeping each other's classes full.

I think the person you're replying to was suggesting OP embezzle their self-education budget into their pocket.

Upon re-reading, I think you're right. Pretty obvious the second time around.

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