Long time L&D leader here and I truly believe majority of corporate trainers are introverts but they rise to the occasion when training. This is from my observation of hundreds of trainers who have reported to me over the decades.

This includes myself! I've been a people leader in a senior leadership role for years and I'm extremely introverted outside of work. I can stay home and not talk to a soul for days.

Been building training content for a while now after years in ML engineering. The thing that keeps surprising me is how often the person who knows the subject best is the worst at explaining it. They skip steps they think are obvious, use jargon without realizing it, and structure everything like a reference manual instead of a learning path.

Ive started asking subject matter experts to walk me through their process while I record it instead of having them write anything down. Then I build the training from that recording. The natural way they explain things when talking is almost always better than what they write.

Anyone else found workarounds for the expert blind spot problem?

Hello, fellow trainers! I know, I know icebreakers are a hit or miss but I’m looking for some of your favorite welcome activities for in-person professional development for 15 minutes that get a dozen folks chatting and excited for a full day of an agenda to train-the-trainer.

Particularly interested in unusual or uncommon ones even if you don't necessarily use them very often.

I will ban anyone that says 'Two truths and a lie'. ^{^(just} kidding)

For mine, I'll give a complicated one:

For a small group, there's one where you introduce yourself to a partner, and get to know them Sometimes you can ask them to learn specific things like favorite food. Then you have each person introduce their partner to the group.

I've also seen a complicated variation of this for large groups (50+). Where you have, say four questions- Favorite movie, favorite food, city where born (or from if it's a convention or something), etc. Then, you introduce yourself to someone and learn and answer the four questions. Then the answer your heard, those become yours. So now you go and speak to someone else, and you swap questions and answers, but now you're giving the person's answers that you just spoke to. And when your done, now, again, you're taking the answer of the person you just spoke to and those become your answers. To this for a couple rounds depending on the size of the group.

It's a messy game, lol, but I the think the goal is to just get people talking to each other and out of the dozens of things you hear a couple here and there might ping in your brain and anyway at least you've spoken to several people in the group.

I once tried to do a final part to this with a group of 25 or so. I ran this game, but then had each person give the answers that they currently were 'holding'. Then the group tried to guess who the person was. I was kind of a mess because people were mixing up answers, giving favorite dish from one person but favorite movie from someone else. But it was a laugh, energetically brought the group back together, and did actually share people to the group by way of "No, that was MY favorite movie!"

This could be a really cool resource for people in training and L&D to share and help each other, but instead the mods have allowed it to turn into an AI slop subreddit. I've really tried to ignore it and pick out the threads that seem human, but it's just endless slop on my home page now. At this point I think it's 80% bots replying to 80% bots.

Are there any alternative subreddits that haven't been hijacked?

Most L&D folks I know have faced this:

Client brief lands on Thursday. Program needed by Monday.

You’re staring at a blank doc wondering where to start.

I’ve been experimenting with a process that’s helped me cut design time quite a bit, and I’m curious how others approach this.

Here’s what’s been working for me:

1. Start with outcomes (before slides)

I try to answer: what should participants do differently after the training?

Usually limit it to 3–5 outcomes.

2. Use a repeatable structure

I default to:

Open → Explore → Practice → Consolidate → Close

Helps me avoid overthinking the flow.

3. Build facilitator + participant materials together

Instead of sequentially.

Feels like it reduces rework, but curious if others do this differently.

4. Get sign-off on a 1-page outline first

I share just outcomes, structure, timings, and key activities before building the full program.

This approach has helped me move faster, but I’m sure there are better ways.

How do you typically structure your design process under tight timelines?

Hey, I’m doing some benchmarking with salaries in learning and development and have found that it’s so broad in our industry! I love working in Learning and Development and want to make this my permanent career path but I’m also super motivated and want to make as much money as I can in the industry. If you’re in L&D, what do you do? Did you specialize in anything? How much money do you make and do you like what you do? I’ll start.. I’m 33, NYC, Assistant Director of Learning and Development, it’s pretty general but I focus on a lot on management training and I make $135k a year (no bonus). I’ve been in L&D for about 6 years, previous to that I worked in a HR role.

I'm making a career change at the ripe old age of 40 (lol), and moving into L&D as a specialist. I'll focus on coaching, training, leadership support/education, etc.

I'm VERY excited, but also nervous about a whole new professional world. It's a new position within the organization, too, so there isn't anything in place yet with regards to training and coaching structures or programs.

One thing they emphasized in the interviews and onboarding is that a lot of the older leadership/C-suite execs are going to be hesitant and may even be blatantly opposed to coaching and training. Any advice for working with people like this?

got stuck training customer service on new fintech regulations. these people have never touched compliance and now need to understand fraud prevention and risk assessments

tried the usual training modules but you can see their eyes glaze over when i start talking regulatory frameworks. theyre good with customers but this is totally outside their wheelhouse

they actually need this stuff to do their jobs right. cant have people giving wrong account restriction info or missing red flags

but how do you take someone from zero knowledge to actually competent? feels like teaching calculus to someone who barely knows math

breaking it into smaller pieces but still overwhelming. what do they absolutely need vs nice to have? how do you build that foundation without frying their brain?

anyone else train people on stuff completely outside their background? feels impossible

Throwaway account here, but just needed to get something off of my chest. I'm a training professional who's been building programs and delivering training for almost 15 years now. I started training newly hired tellers for a large bank, but moved on from there to the tech space where I've mostly worked with various SaaS companies of different sizes.

Today, I just got informed that the company I joined 8 months ago doesn't have enough work to justify my salary.

Prior to that, I'd just been let go from a company I'd worked for for 8 months who told me they didn't have enough work to keep me on.

At both organizations, I consistently received praise for the quality of my work. Customer reviews were outstanding. Product adoption and usage among clients I trained were significantly higher than what both companies had seen prior to my arrival and revamping of their training programs. My problem isn't quality, but quantity. I don't have control over how many clients you bring on. I can't control that the sales team had a hard month. But at the end of the day, my billable time isn't where they want it to be and they can have one of the implementation team take over training duties.

This is 100% a rant and I know that, but I'm just so frustrated with the lack of respect for Training as a skill. Yes, any one of my colleagues can jump onto a Zoom and point and click their way through a product demo. I've watched time after time as people move from one button to the next "this button does this, this button does this other thing which lets you fill in this field which tells Salesforce that you've done the thing that this button does." My eyes glaze over 10 minutes in, the participants have no clue what you're rambling on about, and then when it's over you check the box in SmartSheet that says "Training Complete".

Hell, even landing these two past positions was a challenge. My last role which lasted for more than 8 months was for 4 years when our department got cut. It took me almost a full year of unemployment (thankfully my wife made more than I did) before finding a new position. I don't want to be a project manager, I don't want to spend my day in SmartSheet or Asana checking off boxes--I want to make people better at their jobs. I'm damn good at it. But it's just not what the market seems to want right now.

I'm in my very first OD job after switching careers. I've run many training sessions before but this was the first as the company Org Development person. I think it went well! Focused on change mgmt and effectively leading teams through change. Just wanted to brag for a minute 😊

I've seen some fear on this sub about AI coming to take over the Training and Development or L&D space, but I came across this article about the top 10 most AI-resistant professions and was happy to see Training and Development listed at #6. Here's an excerpt:

6. Training and development specialists

Training and development specialists came in sixth place, and have a 29% chance of being automated, Eskimoz said. Communication is also important for the role.

A closely related position, HR Managers, also made the list.

Granted, all studies have their limitations and it's hard to ever know for sure, but I did find this somewhat comforting to read. Here is the link to the article and the study it was based on.

Hello everyone,

As you may have already heard, a recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.

The Situation:

On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader. ('API Calls' are how apps get information from Reddit's main servers to present to you).

Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface. In addition, many 3rd party apps offer functions for those differently abled, such as blind users, functions that do not exist in Reddit's official app.

This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going private (going 'dark') to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.(Going private means means that only approved users will be able to access the subreddit. Since most subs don't use 'approved user' functions, this means basically everyone will not be able to access those subreddits during that time.)

The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.

What can you do?

• Learn more about the effort at r/Save3rdPartyApps/

• Complain. Message the mods of /r/reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message /u/reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on /r/reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.

• Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join the effort at /r/ModCoord - but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.

• Join the boycott! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 14th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!

• Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.

I work in L&D and have been with my current company for 5+ years now.

Not here to complain about my company at all! I've actually had a GREAT experience and have been given a ton of opportunities to learn and grow. The problem is that pay raises and title jumps just don't really come with this company lol.

For reference, my title is still Coordinator.

A few years ago they eliminated a Training Manager role and I absorbed most of those responsibilities. I was grateful for the opportunity to learn and take on more, but when I asked for a pay raise, or at the very least a title change to reflect what I was doing, they said no. I was making in the low $40s at the time.

Not long after that I got an offer for a Training Manager position at another company in the mid $70s. They actually told me during the interview process that I was overqualified for the position.

I ended up turning it down because it would have been a VERY long commute(4h+ RT), 5 days a week in office, with no flexibility. I tried to negotiate different hours or some kind of hybrid option, but they were pretty old school about everyone being in the office.

Which I understand, their company, their rules. But once I factored in the amount of time I'd spend commuting, plus gas and tolls, the pay difference just wasn't enough to make sense. Especially since my current job is hybrid and VERY flexible.

That offer did eventually result in a pretty significant raise at my current company, and with yearly cost of living increases I'm now in the low $60s.

Then a couple of years ago our department went through another leadership change and I absorbed parts of a more senior role for several months. Even after the position was filled, I kept a lot of those responsibilities.

So at this point I've basically absorbed a mix of Manager and Director level tasks while my title is still Coordinator lol.

My actual job now is a mix of instructional design, LMS administration and management, reporting and analytics, designing printed and digital training materials, creating strategic training and leadership development plans for the year, developing and executing company wide training programs and rollouts, managing trainer programs, and supporting operational initiatives.

I also plan, execute, and facilitate classroom style training workshops, as well as help plan and present at larger company wide summits and training events.

Basically I get to touch A LOT of different areas of L&D, which is honestly one of the reasons I've stayed so long. I've learned a ridiculous amount here.

But I'm at the point where I really want my next move to be a significant career move, not just leaving a job I love to make slightly more money somewhere else.

I'd really like to get into the $100k to $115k+ range and also get somewhere where I can continue learning and expanding what I do.

I currently work in hospitality, so other areas of hospitality seem like they could be a pretty natural transition. Delta or Hilton is honestly the DREAM. I feel like a lot of my experience could translate pretty well there too.

But I'm also really curious about how I could break into the tech side of L&D. Companies like Affirm, Pinterest, etc. really interest me. Leadership development, learning program management, instructional design, LMS/Learning Systems... I'm pretty open to where I land as long as my experience translates and there's room to grow.

My fiancé keeps telling me to "just find a recruiter."

Okay... how???

Do I literally just search for L&D recruiters on LinkedIn and start messaging people? Are there recruiting firms that specialize in L&D? Do recruiters even work with individual candidates like this or are they mostly hired by companies when they have a specific position they need filled?

And if anyone here has made the jump from hospitality/operations into tech or another higher paying industry within L&D, I would LOVE to know how you did it and how you positioned your experience.

I know the job market is tough right now and I'm genuinely grateful to have a job that I really do love. I'm not miserable and trying to escape tomorrow, so I have the luxury of being picky and taking my time with whatever I do next.

But I also want to have kids, own a home, save money, travel, and just build a good quality life. A salary in the low $60s doesn't go nearly as far as it used to in a major US metro. I already live 45 minutes outside of the city to offset the cost and even out here things are expensive.

I think I'm just reaching the point where I realize that loving my job might also be keeping me stuck.

I could stay here another 5 years "hoping" the right promotion eventually comes along, but considering my title is still Coordinator, I'm not exactly holding my breath 😂

I feel like it's time to start growing myself in other ways and see what else is out there.

So... if you were me, where would you start?

And seriously, where are these recruiters my fiancé seems to think are just wandering around waiting for me to find them? 😂

Got back from DevLearn a couple of weeks ago and couldn't help but realize that every single one of the booths of LMS vendors weren't just LMS platforms but they were new and improved LMS platforms with AI.

My outlook is obviously subjective: I feel that AI will accentuate the woes of eLearning by delivering training faster for companies but consequently decrease the quality for learners.

eLearning already gets a bad rep from my employees and my colleagues already say the same thing. They say it's boring and tedious; that it's basically clicking through page by page until you get 100% on a quiz. On top of that, learners are already statistically terrible when it comes to application when learning is done online. More than half of my employees that used a vendor's online learning platform failed compliance training when we blind tested them on the job. This would've never happened if we used hands-on instruction during mandatory sessions.

With AI included, I only seeing it getting much worse. One of the vendors offered "AI video vILT" that uses a virtual instructor to guide learners through lessons. I demoed the software and couldn't help but think that it was horrifically real but also terrible let alone unnatural when it came to instruction on skills comprehension: Clunky presentation, powerpoint style, and it felt closer talking to an automated machine, especially when asking specific questions. I'm sure after hours tech support sounded more natural than this.

Maybe I'm just too old-school for eLearning? I'm very much a skills focused L&D girl that prefers to apply knowledge than just "soak it in" while you're on the computer. At this rate, AI-anything is bound to replace all of us as training professionals if this is the trend forward.

I'm 40, laid off back in December 2025 as an office assistant for a PE firm for the last 9 years, and looking at careers that can stand on one leg against the AI takeover. I stumbled across a training program for a HR career in Learning and Development for those displaced by recent lay-offs. And looked and sounds interesting in terms of helping employees learn and develop themselves as professionals in their respective field.

My questions are for those who are or was in the field:

1. What's the likelihood of at least getting an interview for an entry-level Learning & Development job?

2. What's your take in terms of career outlook if you're still in the field or if you've moved on?

3. Is it any different from Instructional Designers? I'm also looking into this if L&D is on the decline.

Please let me know of any insight or personal experience. Thank you.

Current AI browsers can now 'see' and auto-complete a standard Articulate/SCORM compliance module - clicks, quizzes, and all - without any human involvement.

This effectively breaks the 'defensibility' of our compliance training. If we can't prove a human did the learning, the LMS record is legally useless to us in a breach situation.

We are planning a major overhaul in 2026 to 'AI-proof' our assessment approach. We're moving away from multiple choice and text answers, and replacing them with:

• Video-based answers (verifying it’s actually the employee).

• Context-heavy scenarios via Microsoft Forms that require specific, internal team knowledge to answer.

• Testing the idea of layering hotspots over video that are harder for text-based LLMs to understand or answer.

Is anyone else paying attention to this risk? What assessment approaches are you using, that prove a human was still "in the loop"?

Hospital administration mandated new sepsis protocol training for all nursing staff within 30 days. 500+ people need to be certified and we cant pull them off the floor because were already understaffed.

Tried scheduling during shift changes but emergencies always come up and half the staff misses it. Our LMS completion rates look decent but people are just clicking through modules between patient calls. Quality of learning is questionable.

Different units are interpreting protocols differently because theyre getting trained by whoever happened to attend. Already seeing compliance issues and Im worried about our next audit.

Leadership keeps asking for completion percentages like that proves anything. Yeah 80% completion but I have no visibility into actual comprehension. Two incidents last week that probably trace back to training gaps.

Cant shut down operations for education days and the traditional learning doesnt scale with our staffing constraints.

Anyone dealt with large scale training for frontline workers ??

Okay, maybe not brand-spanking, but I’m pretty new to training from the corporate aspect (1 year this past September). I work for a medium-sized company who has never before had a training program. Not ever. A year ago, I was promoted from one of our local offices to a training position at our headquarters—the only training position our company has ever had. At first, I was responsible for traveling to our different offices and training our internal staff, but then... well, COVID-19. Now I don’t travel, I work from home, I create training materials (videos, PowerPoints, documents) and I e-train our staff.

Today, I had my annual performance evaluation and got the raise I was asking for and glowing reviews (yes, tooting my own horn here). We also talked about my future with the company and expanding my training to higher-level staff as well. But, here’s the thing... I have not a clue what I am doing. I need some guidance, folks! I’ve never worked on a project so large and I’m not even sure where to begin.

Here are a couple of questions that I’m looking for immediate guidance on:

• What platforms do you use to create your content?

• Where and how do you share your digital content, so that it’s accessible to your learners? How do you organize it to make the most sense to the learner?

• How do you track who attends/utilizes your trainings? Do you grade/provide feedback?

• How do you manage and track your progress as a trainer?

• Should I write out my entire plan? Is there something you could recommend for organizing the project?

• What does your company training program look like (overview)?

Thank you to everyone in advance!

I feel like in most desk jobs, there is a lot of "hurry up and wait". This is normal. The problem is that when there is no work to do, I am always supposed to be available to take on new work.

I have found that, at least on a subconscious level, people still look like they are busy even though they are waiting for work.

I don't like to do this. I have noticed I can avoid this when I am working remotely.

..but I like to talk with people in person, which caused me to dislike working remotely.

I thought, maybe as a corporate trainer I'd be able to solve this problem.

Not need to look busy, while talking with people in person all the time.

So I wanted to see, what are the bad sides of being a corporate trainer. Lots of travel? Talking with too many people that are disinterested with what you are trying to teach? Not enough demand for this job?