"Can you cancel my account please. I'm unemployed and have to cut back on my costs until I get a job."

I get the above e-mail maybe five times per day. It never ceases to amaze me. What exactly does this person think is going to happen to improve their job chances if they quit the very thing which will open doors for them?

I've been broke myself. I lived off porridge and powdered milk for three months and never paid the rent. I had to go everywhere by bicycle as I couldn't afford petrol. I never stopped buying books and investing in my education though. I knew that knowledge backed by qualifications was my ticket to a better quality of life.

Think about it. I am probably preaching to the converted here but if you have to cut your expenses to the bone, cancel the cable package, eat in every day and walk instead of taking the bus could you somehow, some way, still be able to afford a buck a day to invest in yourself and your future?

Paul Browning

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How serious were they?, August 11, 2010

By CedarPointFreak - See all my comment or reviews

I agree that some people just end up very broke, and that could be the answer. The other thing that I saw at my community college, in the CISCO netacadamey was that there were those that were very serious, and stuck with it, and there were those that thought they were serious, but sort of drifted off... it was about 75-80% that started, and never finished. Out of the four semesters, the school would start out with four classes FULL of students, and by the fourth class, they had trouble filling just one.
So I say, don't despair. This site provides a much more comprehensive, and personable learning environment, and there will be those that dabble, and leave. Not due to your content, but for other reasons. They may just be blaming it on the money, but there has to be some other underlying causes.
It might be useful to look at how many start with your service, and finish at least one cert, vs how many start and "drift off" for whatever reason, be it financial, or just lack of continued interest.
I would be interested in those statistics.
Keep up with the great site, as it truly helped me pass my CCENT & CCNA. I look forward to the study I will be putting in toward my CCNP, and I would be very sad if this resource were not available to me.

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1 of 1 people found the following comment or review helpful:

What's sauce for the goose isn't the same for the gander, August 11, 2010

By erratictoad - See all my comment or reviews

I hear you Paul but this sounds very much like the argument of saving for your retirement - aka pension.

Folks say "you must save" but my argument is what if you have nothing spare to save with? Not every employer do pensions or if they do they are matched contributions - I have 10 folks I work with on a shift pattern and a straw poll shows me that only 4 of us have a pension / savings of some sort.

Coming back to the point - if you simply can't spare the cash then my or your or whoevers expectations will not make any difference to that person that can't afford it. No matter how much you or I might scrimp and save, some folks just can't / won't or don't. For them it'd be more than eating porridge (yuck) daily to overcome it, it'd be a mindset change and they do not come as easy to some - me included.

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