Is it me or what??

Can anyone comment on training that they may or may not receive from their employer. I'm just wondering because both the company I'm with now & the one I was with previously did/do not respond to my requests for additional training. Am I out in left field to think that with the rate that new technology changes that it would be in a companys best interests to send/get training for their IT team? The people on the hardware side seem to get the training on new systems to get & keep them running but as a programmer I'm usually left to my own devices to research information when I need it. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem trying to research a problem but I can't help but think if I had the tools (online course, training CD's, or wonder of wonder an actual class with real people to talk to) I would be a more productive programmer. Books have only gotten me so far, this site has help me more than anything. I'm just curious as to someone else's situation.

training is usually the first luxury to go when times get tough (and they ARE tough at the moment!)

To be fair to my current employer i usually get the training i ask for - probably just to shut me up - but i am in no way typical. Most guys around me have to fend for themselves. I normally get around 3 weeks a year, but this year it's been FAR greater.

Hardware folks are more likely to get training since the infrastructure stuff tends to be more critical.

BUT...Training doesn't make the man, although it's great to get a week every so often away from the desk...

I work for a smaller company and have never got, never will get, finally stopped begging for, training of any kind. One reason is that training seems to be so damn expensive. So for smaller companies at least there isn't enough return on your investment. I think that Microsoft PDC was like $2k, that is outragous, for what? So basically i'm screwed.

about 15k (that's UK sterling) for my current batch of training - 'bout 5 weeks worth - The company have made me sign a blood oath that i will never even THINK about leaving until they make every penny back out their 'investment'...shhhh they're listening!

If they had even paid me half of that i would have sat up all night with the books open...

Yeah that is the bad part about working for a small company I guess. If I even asked for 15k of training they would commit me to the looney bin. That is crazy. They could almost hire a part time person to train you personally for that.