$7000 for Adobe training? That’s what a friend of mine was quoted, and it made me flip out. So I reached out to my brother-in-law to find out where he learns Adobe. This is what he said, and it cost a whole lot less.
Lynda.com. It’s an online training system for online skills. Their model is to give you access to video tutorials that allow you to train yourself at your own pace. The packages and techniques are sorted into mini-syllabuses, so you can follow a particular track (say Web and Interactive -> Graphics and Animation) or just dip into whatever it is you want to learn.
It’s $25 a month for a regular subscription, and $37.50 a month if you want access to the instructors’ exercise files.
I’m not a great self-paced learner with everything that is clamoring for attention in my life and the resulting frequent context switching, so this might not be for me. Still, it’s a lot better than $7000, and if I had a deadline and an accountability partner or study group, I think this is the way I’d go. Ignore the stark bangs on the be-bobbed founder.
A.J. Wood. He also mentioned A.J.Wood – “one of the top Adobe trainers in North Dallas”, who has a popular YouTube channel. I decided to check out the most popular videos – Merging in Adobe CS5 to HDR. A.J. is a spirited gentleman who looks like he’s teaching from a closet, but the video actually kept me in my seat for seven and a half minutes, so hats off to him -Â I became rather absorbed.
Oddly, he was working on a photo of an old car, just like the one I took a month ago in North Dallas. The upshot: very pertinent, easy to watch and it made me want to get CS5 and start adjusting my photos a little more.
To summarize, I would say there are three things I would need to become proficient in the Adobe suite: A subscription to Lynda, access to AJ Wood, and a study partner. And two years later I’d still have about $6100 change from my original $7000 quote. Some of which I would use to buy a nice gift for my knowledgeable brother-in-law – the mighty Zig.
Self-study is great for a lot of people. Doesn’t work for everyone though. I do agree that the Lynda.com stuff is some of the best. The thing about classes though, is that they definitely get the job done quickly. They are mainly for people who have more money than time though, no question.
Thanks Sterling – I like the look of your courses. Fast and effective, and for the easily trained rather than the cheapskate like me!