working and studying at the same time.

jakecitrix

working and studying at the same time does it effect your work or study performance and how do most employers feel about this?

Armymanis

most employers love working and studying at the same time. Especially if your working in your current job field. I currently work at a help desk environment and have worked with the same IT company for 4 months now. They love the fact that they can have me work here Friday-Sunday 8 hour a day shifts at the help desk, and have me go to school the rest of the time. Not only am I building up my IT experience, I am getting the degree's and certificates I want in order to be successful in the field.

Turgon

jakecitrix wrote: »

working and studying at the same time does it effect your work or study performance and how do most employers feel about this?

Most employers hate you studying and working at the same time once you are out of helpdesk and have significant responsibilities at work. Expect to be studying on your personal time once you reach senior levels.

jamesp1983

second what turgon said.

idr0p

Well I work as a Security Analyst, I actually study for SANs and I will be getting my M.S., I dont think my employer cares either way as long as I get my Job done. As for it effecting work performance.. it depends on the person and how motivated they are. Anything is possible.

TLeTourneau

It really depends on the employer. My employer has no problem with it as long as the job gets done, but I specifically asked about it during the interview. They actually encourage employees to pursue their education.

Psoasman

My employer is education-friendly. I have been able to do my AAS degree, as well as finish up my MCSE and Windows 7 certs. They prefer us studying / labbing if there is down time.

pram

Depends on the job I guess. I'm a sys admin and my bosses don't care what I do during downtime. Studying is a lot more productive than just surfing the internet or w/e anyway, I wouldn't see any reason to discourage it.

SilverGenius

My bosses really like training and education. As long as I get the job done I can do what I want.

RouteThisWay

Seriously, I need a job with aforementioned "down time".

As Turgon said, once you are elevated past the Help Desk/Support role and you are actually given the proverbial "keys to the kingdom" and are responsible for your systems... There is never down time. Employers don't want you to study during their work hour. They want you to perform the job they are paying you to do. If you are a System Admin, and you say you have nothing to do- then you are not a good system admin. No environment is perfect. Always something to document. Always something that can be improved on.

I have been criticized many of times on this board for being a "company man" and "not caring about the employee". It's part of the reason I don't post much here anymore - just lurk. A company doesn't owe you anything more than the money they are giving you for the service you provide. Should you work and study at the same time? No. During work hours, you should be putting that energy towards providing that service to your employer. If my Help Desk guy said there was nothing to do so he was going to study- I wouldn't be too impressed with him to be honest. I would be far more impressed if he instead asked for more to do and assist me with my job on the admin side of things and he studied on his own time outside of work.

Just my .02

W Stewart

I work and study at the same time. It doesn't really affect my work because I to phone support so I study when there are no calls waiting and I'm caught up on case management but as soon as a call comes in I'm on it. I also go to WGU so I can try to fit studying in anywhere and I'm not on any set schedule.

Turgon

RouteThisWay wrote: »

Seriously, I need a job with aforementioned "down time".

As Turgon said, once you are elevated past the Help Desk/Support role and you are actually given the proverbial "keys to the kingdom" and are responsible for your systems... There is never down time. Employers don't want you to study during their work hour. They want you to perform the job they are paying you to do. If you are a System Admin, and you say you have nothing to do- then you are not a good system admin. No environment is perfect. Always something to document. Always something that can be improved on.

I have been criticized many of times on this board for being a "company man" and "not caring about the employee". It's part of the reason I don't post much here anymore - just lurk. A company doesn't owe you anything more than the money they are giving you for the service you provide. Should you work and study at the same time? No. During work hours, you should be putting that energy towards providing that service to your employer. If my Help Desk guy said there was nothing to do so he was going to study- I wouldn't be too impressed with him to be honest. I would be far more impressed if he instead asked for more to do and assist me with my job on the admin side of things and he studied on his own time outside of work.

Just my .02

Correct on all points including having the keys to the kingdom. But if you don't have those and you want them one day, then spending your companies time on getting useful stuff done will probably get you closer to them than kicking back and studying. Be different and get on with work that adds value and gets you noticed.

TLeTourneau

RouteThisWay wrote: »

Seriously, I need a job with aforementioned "down time".

As Turgon said, once you are elevated past the Help Desk/Support role and you are actually given the proverbial "keys to the kingdom" and are responsible for your systems... There is never down time. Employers don't want you to study during their work hour. They want you to perform the job they are paying you to do. If you are a System Admin, and you say you have nothing to do- then you are not a good system admin. No environment is perfect. Always something to document. Always something that can be improved on.

I have been criticized many of times on this board for being a "company man" and "not caring about the employee". It's part of the reason I don't post much here anymore - just lurk. A company doesn't owe you anything more than the money they are giving you for the service you provide. Should you work and study at the same time? No. During work hours, you should be putting that energy towards providing that service to your employer. If my Help Desk guy said there was nothing to do so he was going to study- I wouldn't be too impressed with him to be honest. I would be far more impressed if he instead asked for more to do and assist me with my job on the admin side of things and he studied on his own time outside of work.

Just my .02

I respectfully disagree with both you and Turgon in this. It depends on the culture of the company and thier attitude towards thier employees. I am beyond the Help Desk/Support role and have the "keys to the kingdom" and am encouraged by the company to advance my education whenever possible, including studying at work if the workload permits. Now I would agree that a person has to know what the company will allow but to make a blanket statement that if you have down time or once you hit a certain level in IT studying is frowned on is perhaps somewhat inaccurate. The size of the company and business segment may also have a bearing.

As always, just my opinion.

Devilry

I think it all has to do with the employer really. I would just ask if you don't know the answer, tell them you would like work or if they don't have anything, if they want you to study for something they would like you to learn.

jmritenour

My employer doesn't have a problem with it, but the catch to that is I never have any downtime at work - I've got my hands full from the time I arrive until the time I leave for the day.

Turgon

TLeTourneau wrote: »

I respectfully disagree with both you and Turgon in this. It depends on the culture of the company and thier attitude towards thier employees. I am beyond the Help Desk/Support role and have the "keys to the kingdom" and am encouraged by the company to advance my education whenever possible, including studying at work if the workload permits. Now I would agree that a person has to know what the company will allow but to make a blanket statement that if you have down time or once you hit a certain level in IT studying is frowned on is perhaps somewhat inaccurate. The size of the company and business segment may also have a bearing.

As always, just my opinion.

I agree the company culture can vary. In my experience though the go getters are busy enough in the office doing customer work as opposed to grinding out another afternoon doing exercises or practice tests. If the company is supportive of further education then go for it, particularly if they are supportive of studying on the dollar which always helps. Just be careful to square the study hours away with your line manager and dont get behind on either your assigned work, or miss out on excellent opportunities to shine in the office.

Akaricloud

I think another factor in this discussion is how you're being paid.

If you're paid salary then you have a certain amount of work expected of you and as long as you get that done studying during the workday seems fine.

On the other hand, if you're getting paid hourly then you're expected to be working the hours that you're clocking. In that situation I wouldn't spend any of their time studying unless it's extremely relevant to the position.

W Stewart

Turgon wrote: »

Correct on all points including having the keys to the kingdom. But if you don't have those and you want them one day, then spending your companies time on getting useful stuff done will probably get you closer to them than kicking back and studying. Be different and get on with work that adds value and gets you noticed.

True but maybe the company you work for isn't offering what you're looking for. Some jobs are just stepping stones to get your foot in the door and to get to where you want to be. That's the time for you to study and get certifications so you can move on.

veritas_libertas

It all depends on the employer. My supervisor just assigned me to a different building and I got the extra benefit of a slower area. This is a bonus since I can focus on the project I'm working on as well as college. My supervisor knew this, and encouraged me to do so.

Turgon

W Stewart wrote: »

True but maybe the company you work for isn't offering what you're looking for. Some jobs are just stepping stones to get your foot in the door and to get to where you want to be. That's the time for you to study and get certifications so you can move on.

Some dont that's true. Im referring to positions where there are opportunities to progress. It seems the industry is providing few of those today, so if you get one concentrate on deliverables at work as opposed to just another exam.

blargoe

Turgon wrote: »

Most employers hate you studying and working at the same time once you are out of helpdesk and have significant responsibilities at work. Expect to be studying on your personal time once you reach senior levels.

Agree with Turgon.

neathneathneath

I work in a large high school, what's "down time" - probably the same as "lunch-time" ???