Lauren Singh

Checkly's Learning and Visiting Budget 2024

When I joined Checkly as Junior People Operations Manager, one of the benefits that immediately stood out to me was the Learning & Visiting budget. I found myself wondering—how is this budget actually being used across the company?

At the start of the year, many of our team members plan how they’ll use their learning budget—whether to enhance professional skills or pursue self-driven projects. With flexible guidelines, we encourage them to invest in what matters most. Curious about how this played out in practice, I used our retreat in Costa Brava, Spain, as a chance to chat with colleagues about how they spent their budget last year and the impact it had on their growth.

Each year, our team members receive a $1,000 'Learning & Visiting' Budget—designed to support both professional development and personal growth. There aren’t strict rules on how to use it; whether it’s books, courses, or conferences, we encourage everyone to invest in what matters most to them. Some team members use it to deepen their expertise, while others explore entirely new skills that spark their curiosity.

As a remote-first company, we value the flexibility of asynchronous work, but we also know that there’s something special about meeting in person. That’s where the 'Visiting' part of the budget comes in. Our team can use this budget to cover flights and accommodations when meeting up with colleagues in different cities—whether for a dedicated work session, or simply to collaborate in person.

To further support both growth and work-life balance, we’ve increased the budget to $1,500 for 2025. Along with this boost, we’re introducing a wellbeing component, recognizing the importance of personal development and overall well-being. Whether it’s investing in professional skills, building relationships, or prioritizing mental and physical health, we want to support our team in ways that truly make a difference.

How the Learning & Visiting Budget was spent in 2024

So, what did the team actually spend their $1,000 Learning & Visiting Budget on in 2024? Well, I dove into the data to find out!

The biggest category (24.99%) of spend is coaching and mentoring, including

Speech and vocal coaching to improve public speaking skills (2x!)

Engineering Management coaching to improve leadership skills

The second-biggest category (15.39%) is tools (tech & learning projects), such as

The third biggest category (11.43%) is subscriptions 

This category includes annual community memberships, newsletters subscriptions and more:

The fourth biggest category (9.03%) is visiting, including

Our People & Operations team got together for in-person collaboration, team bonding, and hands-on workshops.

A few members of our sales team met up in Berlin to connect and work together in person.

The fifth biggest category (8.10%) is conferences, such as

This includes not only the conference tickets, but also accommodation and travel.

The sixth biggest category (7.84%) is training & courses, including

JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures Masterclass

The Ultimate MySQL Bootcamp: Beginner To Power User

Docker & Kubernetes: The Practical Guide [2024 Edition]

How the budget’s use has changed from 2023 to 2024

I took some time to look into the data from 2023 to see how learning trends shifted in 2024, and one change stood out—coaching and mentoring saw a significant increase. Last year, it made up just 2.75% of our total budget spend, but in 2024, that number jumped to 24.66%. This lines up with the 70:20:10 learning model, which suggests that 70% of knowledge comes from hands-on work, 20% from coaching and mentorship, and 10% from formal training. This year, more of our team chose to invest in learning through coaching. It’s exciting to see this shift; perhaps it reflects a growing focus on knowledge-sharing and leadership development within our team.

In 2023, the biggest share of the budget (30.80%) went to training and courses, with our sales team using their Learning & Visiting budget for MEDDIC sales training. In 2024, training and courses accounted for 10.67% of spending, with many team members still using their budgets for additional training.

One of the most interesting shifts from 2023 to 2024 was the growing use of ChatGPT. In 2023, only one team member used their learning budget for a ChatGPT subscription. By 2024, it made up the majority of the tools category. Over the past year, I’ve come to see that ChatGPT isn’t just for quick answers—it’s a powerful tool for writing, brainstorming, coding, and problem-solving. This shift makes me curious about how AI-powered tools will continue to shape the way we learn and work. As more of our team embraces ChatGPT, I’m excited to see how they use it to enhance their skills and productivity in 2025.

Looking at the past two years, courses and coaching have been the two biggest areas of investment. It’s been fascinating to see how these priorities have shifted, and I’m curious to see where they go next. With coaching and mentorship becoming a bigger part of how our team learns, it’ll be enlightening to explore new ways to support this shift, while maintaining a well-rounded approach to professional development.

Giovanni (Head of Customer Solutions) used his budget to work with a vocal coach.

Speaking to a broader audience now feels much more natural—I no longer have to consciously think about projecting my voice, which frees up mental space to focus on my message. While presenting wasn’t new to me, I used to worry about clarity and articulation. Now, I can shift my attention to content and delivery, making me feel more in control and confident when I speak.

An unexpected takeaway from this experience has been learning from my coach, not just about public speaking but also about teaching itself. He’s an expert in how people learn best, and his approach has made me more mindful of how I support others. This has been especially helpful when onboarding new team members—I can better empathize with them and ask myself, “What do they need from me to get up to speed? What emotional state will leave them in the best place to dare and push out of their comfort zone?

Manel (Software Engineer) used her budget on RunJS.

RunJS has become a really useful tool for making work-in-progress coding much smoother. It’s like a playground where I can test different lines of code without having to run them directly in the codebase. It allows me to experiment quickly without spending too much time setting things up.

At first, I wasn’t sure how helpful it would be, so I stuck with the free version. But after using it more, I realized the upgraded version’s fewer limitations made a big difference. It’s definitely been worth it.

CJ (Senior Customer Solutions Engineer) used his budget to enroll in the MEDDIC sales training.

It helped reinforce best practices that I've learned in previous roles. This has allowed me to proactively think about how I can apply them in my new role. MEDDIC is a great resource to use when qualifying deals in or out; it is a basis of our decision making tree within an opportunity.

Kaylie (Director of People) used her budget to go to the Balderton People Leaders Summit in London, England.
It was less of a conference and more of a people leader's meetup organized by our VC. It gave me a lot of ideas and points of improvement for things that we're already doing at Checkly and can do better at Checkly. One of the focuses of this meetup was how to use AI in the people function. It was really interesting to talk about this with experts on the topic but also with other people leaders in different startups. I've been able to implement some of the learnings in my daily work and my daily life.

Jan (Senior Software Engineer) used his budget to get CKA + CKAD Certified.

During the cost reduction initiative on the platform team, the knowledge I gained from the certification enabled me to suggest improvements to the DNS setup, which helped the team significantly reduce one of our services. From the course, I learned that this was possible—and that I could configure it myself. It was a small change with a huge impact.

This certification has definitely boosted my confidence, as I’m now able to apply what I’ve learned directly to my day-to-day responsibilities.


Sara (Senior Product Marketing Manager) used her budget to purchase a PMM Camp membership.

PMM Camp is a community of Product Marketers where we regularly meet to share challenges and learn from each other. I’ve received valuable advice and ideas that have helped me grow both personally and professionally. Plus, I get to work with some really great advisors.

The community has around 200 members, most of whom are based in North America. This has been especially beneficial for me since there aren’t as many experienced PMMs in Europe.

Court (Sales Development Representative) used his budget to continue with his outbound copywriting coaching from 2023.

I'm much more effective in my LinkedIn outreach—whether it's messaging, making connections, or generating meetings. Through coaching, I’ve gained a better understanding of how to use LinkedIn as a tool for outreach, something I hadn’t fully grasped before. Before this coaching, my efforts weren’t leading to much success.

In general, I really appreciate having someone to provide feedback and act as a sounding board. When I did coaching last year, outbound outreach wasn’t the main focus, but now it is—and having that guidance has made a big difference.

So, why should you use your learning & visiting budget?

The Learning & Visiting Budget is more than just a perk—it’s an opportunity to grow, explore, and invest in yourself. At Checkly, we’ve seen firsthand how this budget empowers our team to sharpen their expertise, pursue new interests, and build meaningful connections. Whether it’s gaining confidence in public speaking, diving into new tech tools, or collaborating with peers in person, these investments extend beyond professional growth—they help create stronger, more well-rounded individuals.

With 2025 on the horizon, I’m excited to see how our team continues to make the most of this opportunity. Whatever learning looks like for you, the key is to stay curious, take advantage of the resources available, and invest in what helps you grow.

Why and How You Should Use Your Learning & Visiting Budget

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Why and How You Should Use Your Learning & Visiting Budget