People often ask us for "job support" when what they need is training, or ask for training when what they need is job support. They are not the same thing. Here is how to tell which one fits.
Quick comparison
| | Training | Job support | Consulting | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Who arranges it | You or your employer | You, privately | Your employer | | What it is anchored to | A curriculum | Your actual tasks this week | A defined project outcome | | Timeframe | Fixed course length | As long as you need it | Length of the engagement | | Who does the work | You (exercises) | You (real tickets, with help) | The consultant | | Best when | You have time before you need the skill | You are already in the role and stuck | The company needs an outcome delivered |
Training
Training teaches a subject in a structured way — a course, a bootcamp, a certification path. You work through exercises that someone designed, in an order someone chose.
Choose training when you have some runway before you need the skill, you want breadth and fundamentals, or you are switching careers and starting from a low base. Training is a poor fit when you are already in the job and the thing blocking you is a specific unfamiliar codebase — no course covers *your* repo.
Job support
Job support is help with the exact work in front of you. There is no syllabus; the agenda is your open tickets, your failing pipeline, your design decision. A senior engineer in your stack works alongside you, and you learn the relevant parts as you go.
Choose job support when you are already in the role, the pressure is now, and the gap is between what you know and what this specific job needs. It is the fastest way to get unblocked and it teaches you the things that actually apply. It is a poor fit if you want a complete grounding in a subject from scratch — that is what training is for.
Read what job support is and how it works for the full picture, or see the tracks we cover: Java, Python, AWS, DevOps and JavaScript.
Consulting
Consulting is when a company hires an expert to deliver an outcome — design this system, migrate this platform, audit this security posture. The consultant does the work and hands it over.
Choose consulting when the organisation needs a result and does not have the people to deliver it, and the budget and authority to buy it sit with the company, not the individual.
Can you combine them?
Often, yes:
- Take a short course for the fundamentals, then use job support to apply them to your real project.
- Use job support day to day, and interview preparation when you are ready to move roles.
- A company might bring in a consultant for the architecture and give the team job support to build and run it.
The one-line rule
If you need to *learn a subject*, get training. If you need to *deliver your job while you learn*, get job support. If the *company* needs an *outcome*, get consulting.
Frequently asked questions
Is job support just expensive tutoring?
It overlaps with tutoring, but it is anchored to production work and delivery deadlines rather than practice problems, and the engineers are working professionals in your specific stack.
Which is cheaper?
It depends on scale. A group training course has a low per-person cost but takes weeks. Job support is one-to-one so the hourly rate is higher, but you may only need a few hours to clear a specific blocker.
My company offered to pay for training. Should I take it?
Yes — take the training, and consider job support separately for the day-to-day application if you are still struggling once the course ends.
Can I expense job support?
Some employers reimburse it as professional development; many people pay privately. Check your company's policy.