Invest in yourself

cyberguypr

Sharing a quick video from Ted Demopolous on the value of investing in yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meXuM6J2oWQ

This topic comes up from time to time here. I cringe when I see people who insist employers should pay for all their professional development. 

chrisone

I double your cringe

NetworkNewb

Nice, I was just a facilitator for one of Ted's classes this month.  Really good instructor

tedjames

I see your cringe and raise you five. I've worked with people who let their certifications lapse because the boss wouldn't pay for their renewal. I've had to pay for almost everything myself, but I've gained much more than I spent.

There are so many free and and low cost resources available that no one should ever have to spend a fortune just to gain a new skill. It's very easy to create your own training plan and do it for free. You can even base it on some expensive company's courses or programs. A lot of them post their syllabuses (syllabi?) online. Just download them and do a little research. Mr. Google is your friend!

averageguy72

Agree wholeheartedly

Jon_Cisco

I have paid for all of my own training and it has never been a problem. The only thing I wish is that I had invested even more when I was younger and starting my first career.

Danielm7

Yep I met Ted earlier in the year, nice guy. And totally agree with the idea that there are a million ways to invest in yourself, both paid and free. When people tell me they can't learn new things because the company won't pay for it I want to slap them. There has never been more easily accessible learning resources than there are now. Even if you wanted free ivy league university courses, tons of them there online. There is FAR more out there to learn than there is time in the day. 

It's easy to be jealous of people that we see here that start a new job and are offered unlimited SANS courses. I understand that, I've wished for the same, but it's really not typical and sometimes you need to push your employer to show how training will benefit them, not just sit back and wait for them to offer it to you. 

To play devil's advocate for a second. I'm on Ted's email list, from buying his book. He is selling a course of his own, so there might be a tiiiiiny bit of motivation to really push the idea of investing in yourself, when also asking people to buy things from you. But, the idea isn't wrong either way.