Training & Personal Development at Xero New Zealand

We get a training budget that helps us to invest in things we want to learn!

The formal training we've received (AWS workshops, Critical Conversations, etc.) have been really good and great opportunities to develop our technical skills and mindset. However, the way the workshops are delivered are not good and make it difficult to actually retain the content or even enjoy what we're being taught. This is usually because the workshops are too long making it too difficult to pay attention. For example, the AWS workshop spanned three days. It was incredibly draining and didn't really help with the exam study since it was difficult to keep up with the pace (the instructor was also just reading off the AWS booklet which we could've done ourselves). I think for a workshop of this nature, it would be better to make it optional and ask the grads if they want to partake - this way only the grads who are actually committed and want to learn attend and the ones who don't want to attend don't impact the learning or the mindset of the ones who do. In my opinion, it would have been better to have the Critical Conversations workshop sometime after the first rotation. The workshops ask us to draw on personal experiences regarding conflict - to make the most out of the workshop it's ideal to have a workplace-related conflict. As we had the workshop within the first month or so of starting at Xero, a majority of us didn't have those experiences which is why I think having it later on in the year will be better as the grads will have more relevant experiences to draw from and can really make the most/appreciate the benefits of the workshop. For me, I appreciated what was taught in the workshop but didn't really connect with the content since it wasn't relevant to me at the time.

Xero places a large emphasis on learning and upskilling (especially in the graduate program) and provides a training budget for everyone to help them buy resources such as online courses or paying for certification exams in order to support your personal development. In my experience everyone in Xero is also happy to help at anytime and share what they know.

Set aside personal development time and a training budget for certifications etc incl AWS

Crucial Conversation, AWS Solution Architect Associate