How to Get Your Employer to Pay for Your IT Security Training — 10 Steps

Introduction

“Who’s paying for this?” It’s an age-old question, and while it didn’t start with information technology, it certainly seems to be one of the most common questions amongst IT professionals trying to keep up-to-date. In this list, we will highlight 10 steps that will assist you in getting your boss to help foot the bill on your next certification or set of certifications.

Some of these steps will have pros and cons, so you will need to decide for yourself how important it is for you to have your IT security training compensated, or if you would be better off going it alone. Since not all IT security training is certification-level (meaning that you might just want to access a workshop or training seminar), these 10 steps will cover a mixture of different approaches.

1. Identify Business Value

Most companies will need to know that the IT security training you’re undergoing will add business value to the enterprise and that it will eventually yield a return on investment for the company. Perhaps you need to call in a qualified consultant to perform some occasional work, like routine checks, which costs the company money on each call out. Showing how much money you could save the company by performing some or all of those tasks yourself could be enough of a motivator to get you enrolled in some classes and on your way to certification. In some cases, you might need to show a return on investment (ROI) schedule, which outlines how your new certification would save the company money, and how long it would take to pay for itself.

2. Commit to the Business

Some employee contracts will stipulate that any training paid for by the company will incur a lock-in fee that prevents that employee from exiting (Read more...)