Disclaimer: I’ve worked with TrainSignal for years as a contract instructor and have created ten training courses in that time.  As such, I’m definitely biased.  Bear that in mind as you read on.

Today, TrainSignal and Pluralsight both announced Pluralsight’s acquisition of TrainSignal for a cool $23.6 million.  For a company that founder Scott Skinger started using credit cards, that’s an incredible feat and one of which he and the entire team at TrainSignal should be immensely proud.  Early this year, TrainSignal made a strategic “bet the company” move when the company ended its physical media-based sales model and moved to a subscription and cloud-based service.  Gone was the option to buy a single course.  In its place came a very reasonably priced monthly “all you can eat” subscription which, by all accounts, has been incredible successful for the company.

TrainSignal, though, focuses very much on the IT pro side of the house and doesn’t provide much in the way of developer training.  Pluralsight, on the other hand, is very developer focused and has little to no training on the IT side of the house.  As we move into a DevOps-based era where broad skills from both sides of the house will be necessary, merging these two course catalogs into a single subscription makes a lot of sense, particularly since Pluralsight was looking for an opportunity to “cross the aisle” into the IT pro arena, anyway.  Had they simply gone ahead and hired their own team, it would have taken the company years to build their catalog and the two companies would have ended up going head to head.

From all initial appearances, both companies are committed to what they do.  Obviously, like any business, the bottom line is important, but one of the traits that I’ve always admired about TrainSignal was the company’s, for lack of a better word, humanity.  There is significant community outreach, both to the IT community and to the wider community at large.  The TrainSignal staff always seems to be volunteering to help those in need.  Further, when it came to interacting with the team, even as a contractor, I never felt like an outsider.  I could simply call or email anyone – even the founder – and the outreach was always greeted with friendliness.

Pluralsight appears to be made from a similar mold.  Sure, there will always be some cultural and process differences to work out in these kinds of deals.  However, as a part of the acquisition, Scott Skinger, TrainSignal Founder and CEO, and Gary Eimerman, TrainSignal’s Director of Product Development, will lead Pluralsight’s IT course delivery efforts from TrainSignal’s offices in Schaumburg, IL.  Scott and Gary and among the most talented people I know, so their efforts will more than likely lead to a much smoother transition.

For customers, I certainly can’t see a downside!  Customers will get access to a 1,000 course strong catalog from some of the best minds in both the IT and development fields.  Pluralsight, like TrainSignal, uses a subscription model.  By the way, all of the new courses are now included in customers’ subscription fees.  In other words, if you’re a TrainSignal subscriber, your subscription will access the entire combined course catalog.  The same goes for PluralSight subscribers with regard to TrainSignal’s course library.

Both companies focus on the pro.  They don’t seem to take shortcuts to get to just “popular” courses, but they truly want to cover the full spectrum of training needs that fall under the CIO/CTO umbrella.  Both companies are also very well respected in their individual communities.  These days, maintaining a good reputation is critical to success, and both seem to have this well in hand.

Both companies make their forums accessible to students and instructors alike so that those taking courses can look to instructors when a question arises or a concept is unclear.  Today’s TrainSignal platform also provides full tracking capability so that managers can track which courses their employees have taken.  I’m sure that the Pluralsight platform also provides such tools.

For instructors, I can’t say enough good things about TrainSignal.  The company looks for good people and treats them exceedingly well.  From everything I’ve heard about Pluralsight, the same appears to be true.  Both companies realize that keeping good talent requires commitment, flexibility, and, frankly, compensation.  I will admit that I was a bit surprised (in a good way!) when, while watching an interview with Pluralsight CEO Aaron Skonnard, he seemed truly thrilled that his company will be paying a course author more than $1 million in 2013 in royalties alone.  It really seems that both companies take the mantra “a rising tide lifts all ships” seriously.

I’ve always recommended online training to my clients because I feel that the quality of the content is generally very high and I hate to see huge expenses directed at unnecessary in-class training that could be better spent on an ongoing service that can keep IT pros current.  With the combined Pluralsight/TrainSignal and the combined course catalog, it seems that the IT training market is as hot as it ever was and that IT and development pros absolutely have excellent options.