How to organize the exchange of experience and training in IT companies?

Question

IT education

Hello!
Does anyone have experience in organizing an exchange of experience, training, motivation for learning in an IT company? As far as I know, there are different options: Friday projects, mini-conferences between departments. Maybe someone read a good article on this topic? It is especially interesting how all this was implemented in practice and what came of it.

Answer 1

The question is already two years old ... but still)
In the company, from 30 to 80 people (grew over time) tried:
1. Gather once every two weeks around 10-15 people for some report prepared by one of the employees,
2. Create an offline library and regularly purchase books on demand,
3. Bring agile/management/marketing trainers,
4. Send them to conferences/seminars,
5. Raise some difficult topic and storm it with a small group in two/three visits, disassemble it into real company examples, find solutions.
1 - fewer and fewer people came over time, then it became clear that people were not interested (the topics were different),
2 - it worked well, guys who read a lot and who share knowledge immediately appeared in the team,
3 - it works well in order to "cheer up" everyone and energize, but there was no long-term effect,
4 - the guys went, learned and got certificates, but too short a training period did not allow to obtain a sufficient level of fundamental understanding of the subject matter, in general, ineffective,
5 - this turned out to be the most effective solution, but there must be a person who can "coach".
Gathered and raised a topic, such as "Consumer Buying Decision Process".
At the first stage, the concept itself was dismantled, what it represents and the ideal situation. Then the guys were sent to study the mat part and flavored them with links and books. The main character is the leader.
At the second stage, we disassembled the concept in relation to the existing business and stormed over how it all works for us. The main characters are participants.
At the third stage, conclusions were drawn on what could be changed / improved and what was needed for this (often it turned out that something needed to be studied). The main characters are participants.
Well, in the end, the process of improvement was launched.
I personally drew conclusions for myself:
1. The company should have a library,
2. Once a period, you need to get together, well, “assaults” on some problem and dig deep into the team.