How do you compete when you have a family, children, and other constraints?

I suppose this post is geared towards the married family folk. How can we compete in a market that is driven by young ambitious professionals who have all the time in the world to study and learn.

I suppose this is a cop out statement, but in all seriousness how do you stay ahead or even just to keep up with the current trends and technologies? Kids have needs too, like assistance with homework, loving reiforcement, after school activities. The wife has needs obviously and we have needs as well. Do we need to stop focusing so much on certifications and accept the credentials we have and be proud of them? Or will this mentality kill us in the long run. Will we be delegated to the software librarian or software tester with this laissez-faire attitude?

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Comments

joehalford01

Wake up before everyone in the house....

Go to bed after everyone in the house....

Wish I had better advice for you...

swild

It's good to hear from everyone with families. It is tough, no doubt. I didn't even start looking for a real job until I met my wife. Once I met her and found out how good we are together, I knew that I needed to get serious with my life and do whatever it takes to give her the life she wants. If she's happy, I'm happy. She knows that I want to acheive more and have this "big career" so she lets me study whenever I want. She always tells me that she doesn't even want to ask me to do something for her because she knows I need to study.

Neither of us want kids ever, but we do have dogs that we treat like our children. If only one of us is home, they are always napping somewhere so it is easy to study, but as soon as the whole pack is back together in the house it's chaos. Luckily, I have a really great coffee shop only a couple blocks from my house and go there to study most weekends.

We are both strong believers in a local non-profit's cause that we have been volunteering at for about 3 years. A year ago she actually got hired on by them for one of their two paid positions. Now we work together every week for at least 10 hours a week, me volunteering and her getting paid. That's pretty much the only time we get to spend with each other anymore.

But it's all temporary. Once I get that CCDE and my Master's, I can stop building my education and start maintaining at the level that I want to be. Hopefully earning a boatload of cash at that point as well.:D

coty24

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

They'll be able to catch you just fine if you don't keep learning. There's a point where experience has diminishing returns. Anyone who's in a job where they're doing the same thing every day and they can recognize any problem that comes in because they've seen it before is at risk of stagnation.

To put it in simpler terms - if you're a cashier at wal-mart, from managements perspective, the 2 year cashiers experience is about the same as the 20 year cashiers if all they've done is run a register at the front. If the 20 year can also run layaway, sell guns back in sporting goods, and competently answer questions back in electronics, *then* they have the edge.

This ^^

I have one (8 months) and I'm married so i'll put a sock in it

Seriously I can begin to understand what you guys are saying.

NinjaBoy

joehalford01 wrote: »

Wake up before everyone in the house....

Go to bed after everyone in the house....

Wish I had better advice for you...

That's what I do. Ok, I only have 1 kid and I'm married, but I work two jobs (IT manager in the day, Uni Lecturer in the evening) so time is tight. But providing a better life is one of my top priorities.

FloOz

i can see where your coming from with all the responsibilities you have. I myself am still in college and i can tell you it is a terrible place to try and focus and study. There are constant distractions and i absolutly hate it. I went home over christmas break for a month and had a great work/study balance and was able to pass my A+. Now i am back at school and it is so hard to try and focus to study for my Network+. Thank god it is my last semester.

dac086

You guys are great inspirations for me. I have to start on my certifications with this new job I am at. I have a 1 year old at home with my wife and can say that I need to push away the distractions like tv and video games. My boss is asking me to get my CCNA and I haven't even started. I have a BS in Comp Sci and 8 years experience in Sys Admin position with no certs. I'm not sure if I want to learn both Cisco and also Microsoft just to broaden my knowledge.

N2IT

dac086 wrote: »

You guys are great inspirations for me. I have to start on my certifications with this new job I am at. I have a 1 year old at home with my wife and can say that I need to push away the distractions like tv and video games. My boss is asking me to get my CCNA and I haven't even started. I have a BS in Comp Sci and 8 years experience in Sys Admin position with no certs. I'm not sure if I want to learn both Cisco and also Microsoft just to broaden my knowledge.

Probably want to do what the boss wants.