[neilxdsouza]

Not a direct answer to your question but ...

You should probably find someone in the Open Source world who is willing to mentor you for free and you could contribute code to their project (thus building a profile for yourself).

I myself am not very good in C++, but the more you program, the better you become. You may need to read Exceptional C++ by Herb Sutter and some other style guides and other books including Modern C++ Design by Andrei Alexandrescu and C++ Templates : The Complete Guide by Josuttis and Vandevoorde. The Stanley Lippman book mentioned in another comment is also very good.

I work on an Open source project in C++ (but it's also got yacc and it's a compiler (so it may be a high barrier for you, but if you'd like to give it a try I would be happy to help for free) ), and I dont think I am good enough to mentor someone, but you should be able to find an Open Source dev who will mentor you, if you agree to contribute back. This way you can save yourself some money and build a profile at the same time.

[sedeki]

Sounds interesting. Do you have a github and email?

[neilxdsouza]

Sorry about the late reply, I have no-procrast on, am going to disable it.

email: [e-mail], github neilxdsouza (same as my HN username).

the compiler is not yet pushed to github - I will do so and update you (but I dont have your email id either)