Recently, a friend asked me how I transitioned from training to instructional design. In the interest of possibly helping others, I thought I’d share my path here.

1) Starting as both a test prep trainer and a software trainer, I volunteered for ILT curriculum design projects, which led to blended and elearning. Often trainers are tasked with design projects or asked to work with staff IDs.

2) I got a new job managing ILT and elearning projects and grew more interest in doing elearning design and development.

3) I got some formal training and made new connections. ASTD’s E-Learning Instructional Design class was an outstanding place to start. I also looked to the blogosphere for opinion and examples. (Aggregators like eLearning Learning and Alltop can help you find the blogs you like best.)

4) I changed jobs again to do actual ID.

I also highly recommend you find mentors; luckily, the instructional design community is full of people who love to help other people! Diane Elkins and Desiree Ward (who founded the company I now work for) have been mine since I first realized I wanted to become a designer, and I’ve been lucky to make many other connections — mainly through social media — since starting this blog.

I’m sure others have taken other routes and have more suggestions. Any one else care to share their paths and/or tips?