Going through a layoff, studying, or in genuine hardship? We've got you.
Layoffs, students stretching every dollar, engineers in a genuinely hard chapter — the right knowledge at the right time can change a direction. Rise covers a full year of MapYourTech Premium for engineers and students who genuinely can't afford it right now. Same courses, simulators, books, and 700+ articles working engineers pay for. On us.
A free year of Premium Pro — the same content working engineers pay for.
No watered-down version. No locked sections. Full access to every course, every simulator, every reference article, every book — for twelve months.
Deep dives on DWDM, OTN, ROADMs, coherent DSP, photonic integration — the whole stack.
Structured paths from fundamentals to senior-engineer level. Certificates you can put on LinkedIn.
Link-budget calculators, OSNR analyzers, channel planners — the same ones engineers use in proposals.
Visual references you can revisit any time — perfect for interview prep and concept reinforcement.
Read every MapYourTech book in the online e-reader — open any chapter on any device, no downloads, no apps.
A full calendar year. Long enough to actually finish a course, build a portfolio, and find a role.
If any of this is you — reach out.
If you'd otherwise pay for Premium but genuinely can't right now, you fit. We trust you. No proof, no bureaucracy, no awkward forms — just tell us briefly which of these is you.
Recently laid off
If your role was cut, the gap between roles is the worst time for a paywall. Stay sharp, build certificates, and walk into the next interview ready.
Students & new graduates
Tuition, rent, books, food. Premium subscriptions don't fit. Industry-grade content for free for a year — so you graduate with practical skills, not just theory.
In hardship, but want to learn
Medical bills, family situation, returning to work after a break, recovery, relocation. If now is genuinely a hard chapter and you want to keep growing as an engineer, Rise is for you.
One thing — the math
Rise is funded by us, not sponsors. Every Rise membership is one we're not selling. We trust you not to ask for proof — but please apply only if a Premium subscription is genuinely out of reach right now. If you can comfortably pay, your regular subscription is what keeps Rise running for those who can't. And once you've recovered — landed a role, finished school, made it through — you can email us anytime to release your spot, so we can sponsor someone else who genuinely needs it.
Four steps. Mostly an email.
No application form. No documentation upload. No interview. Just send a short note from your real email and tell us briefly why you need Rise — that's the whole process.
Send an email
Email [email protected] from a valid email address.
Tell us why
One short paragraph on what you're going through — recent layoff, studying, in genuine hardship, can't afford it right now. No essays. No proof.
Required — not optionalGet your coupon
We send back a discount code that activates one year of Premium Pro on your MapYourTech account.
No code in 72hr? Check spam folderBuild, learn, apply
Pick a course, finish a path, run a simulator, earn a certificate, land a role. We'll cheer you on.
One short email. One year of access. One direction-changing year.
Send a note that explains your situation in a couple of sentences — laid off, studying, in genuine hardship, or simply can't afford a subscription right now. That's all we need. We usually reply within two working days.
[email protected]Already comfortable? Three ways to keep Rise alive for someone else.
If MapYourTech has helped you and you can comfortably pay, the most useful thing you can do is help someone else find Rise — or fund it directly by staying subscribed.
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Post one MapYourTech article that helped you to your network. One link. One DM. Two minutes. The algorithm does the rest.
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Rise is paid for by Premium subscriptions, not sponsors. If MapYourTech helps you and you can comfortably pay, your active subscription is the program for someone in transition.
View PremiumRefer someone
You probably know someone right now who'd benefit from Rise — a former colleague, a student, a friend retraining. Send them this page. That single message might be the nudge they need today.
Email a friendWe've been the ones in transition.
MapYourTech started in 2011 because optical networking knowledge was scattered, vendor-locked, and expensive. The people behind it have been working engineers — at service providers, hyperscalers, DCI builds, and critical infrastructure rollouts. We've watched colleagues lose roles in market shifts. We've seen brilliant students give up on the field because the books cost more than rent. We know the specific kind of stuck that comes with a transition.
This program is small, but it's something. If practical optical networking knowledge — the kind you actually use in proposals, RFPs, RFCs, and field deployments — can help someone find their next step, then we'd rather give it away than have it sit behind a paywall during the worst few months of someone's career.
Transitions are hard. But the right knowledge, taken at the right time, can change the direction entirely. If we can be that knowledge for you — even for one year — that's enough.
That's the whole pitch. Send the email, tell us briefly why you need it, and we'll take it from there.