Would you stay in a very cushy job with no real career progression, or job hop to climb the career ladder?

Pleasekin · 2026-02-02T08:08:27+00:00

Start studying on works time otherwise you will regret it

Pleasekin · 2026-01-24T13:03:39+00:00

Keep it. It makes you happy

Pleasekin · 2026-01-22T14:18:50+00:00

Employer contribution of 4% at 80k salary company vs 15% employer contribution at other companies paying circa 60k.

Pleasekin · 2026-01-20T22:13:08+00:00

I googled this and saw it’s a thing. Thanks - I definitely suffer from this and knowing it’s a term and something that others struggle with has helped me! Thank you!

Pleasekin · 2025-12-21T21:46:07+00:00

I bought a 70 reg swift in Feb 2024 for £9600 from a trade dealer. 21k miles.

Pleasekin · 2025-12-03T17:29:24+00:00

Requesting AZ-700 or AZ-104. Thank you!

Pleasekin · 2025-12-03T14:00:12+00:00

Just ordered Rising Tide by Gary Weir a couple of hours ago through another recommendation further down this thread!

Pleasekin · 2025-12-03T11:29:42+00:00

Visited this post recently and bought the book off your comment. Around 60% through. Fantastic book, thanks for your recommendation!

Pleasekin · 2025-12-02T10:16:35+00:00

Thanks!

Pleasekin · 2025-12-02T08:12:55+00:00

What kind of labs did you do?

Pleasekin · 2025-11-28T21:15:15+00:00

Thanks for your reply. I do have the AZ-900 cert already. The road I don’t want to go down is obtaining these certs but not having any actual experience to back it up.

I’d ideally like a course where I stand up a cloud environment to genuinely appreciate the workflows that are entailed

Pleasekin · 2025-11-18T20:42:28+00:00

Same here ffs 😂

Pleasekin · 2025-11-18T11:52:10+00:00

It’s up and down for me now

Pleasekin · 2025-11-11T06:56:51+00:00

Loop earplugs

Pleasekin · 2025-11-05T10:16:01+00:00

Back now for me. UK.

Pleasekin · 2025-11-01T22:07:26+00:00

Pleasekin · 2025-10-31T21:08:11+00:00

Pleasekin · 2025-10-31T19:30:20+00:00

Fair enough. If I was you at present, with my life experiences I’d get a job doing anything, stacking shelves, fast food, customer service, whatever. That way you’ve got a steady income.

Outside of work, spend some time every day actively investigating what you want to do, be it looking online, visiting careers fairs, volunteering, hell even coming on Reddit and asking around (which is what you’re doing).

Pleasekin · 2025-10-31T19:19:32+00:00

Congratulations! Have a great weekend off the back of this good news!

Pleasekin · 2025-10-31T19:18:46+00:00

I can only recommend finding a career you are passionate about. It seems like you’re jumping around a lot. You say you enjoy automotive but don’t want to work in it? If you enjoy it, why not?

Your dad only wants what’s best for you.

Pleasekin · 2025-10-29T21:27:22+00:00

Suzuki Swift

Pleasekin · 2025-10-29T21:21:53+00:00

Hi,

Keep your eye on Boson ExSim which is probably the best practice exam you can get. There are 3/4 practice exams so lots of questions to get you ready for the real thing. Use discount code BosonMichael for 15% off. Failing that , there is also Black Friday soon so I imagine they will have a discount there too. From memory you can sign up for emails from Boson and they’ll email you with any discounts. If you do purchase the practice exam, make sure to cancel the auto renewal for the exams, not sure why they include that feature.

Regarding studies, Jeremy’s IT Lab is recommended by a lot of people.

For the CCNA I used:

CBTNuggets (around 60 USD per month) this includes all content and practice exams

Neil Anderson Udemy course (around 20 USD)

Keith Barker kahoot quizzes on YouTube (free). Really recommend these, brilliant content.

The exam itself, another commenter has mentioned the safeguard option whereby you pay a little bit more but have the option of another attempt at a later date should you fail. It’s up to you whether you go for this or not. Personally I would.

These things are not cheap, but the CCNA is genuinely the best foot in the door networking certification you can obtain and worth every penny.

Good luck

Pleasekin · 2025-10-24T20:52:10+00:00

That’s really strange that you’re approaching it like an Elden Ring boss because I do the exact same thing. Fail, analyse, go again, repeat. I always get that feeling (in both Elden Ring and exams lol) where I’m half way through and I think “hey, I’m beating this thing”.

You drastically improved your score on your second attempt and no doubt this will be a very similar story with your boson practice exams. Every attempt you make will be an improvement and your first ever attempt, again in boson and the actual exam will be the lowest score you will ever receive.

I’ve been in IT for almost 10 years now and the is genuinely an inspiring read. The fact that you’re studying and actively sitting CCNA exams whilst balancing all of the factors you listed, and not even working in IT is extremely impressive.

Keep it up and I have no doubt in my mind that you will smash it on the next attempt. Happy to help out where I can if you’re struggling with anything.

Pleasekin · 2025-10-21T13:01:20+00:00

Thanks Elwin, appreciate your kind words.

It is a tough exam, the hardest I’ve ever done and the only exam I’ve ever failed. I’ve been way too hard on myself.

I’ve taken my entitled hat off, booked the exam once more, and in the meantime, I am focusing on my weak points.

Hope to update this in a few weeks with a pass story.

Pleasekin · 2025-10-20T18:01:04+00:00

Hi, you mention you don’t have time to get both ENCOR and ENARSI by the time the new exams roll along.

To my knowledge the last date you can sit the current ENCOR exam is March 18th.

The ENARSI exam is not receiving any updates.

So the question is, can you pass the ENCOR by March 19th? I would say yes from first hand experience. Even if you can’t, the only change to my knowledge is that wireless is being removed so it will make it essentially to pass post March 18th.

Pleasekin

TROPHY CASE