Need some advice

ClapDemCheeks

I started a job on June and i will be going back to school in late August. Now here is the thing. My shift starts early morning and i have to wake up at 5 a.m. I get out of school at 10 pm and get home at 11:00 pm. When i get home i eat take a shower and then go to bed so i sleep at around 12:00 am. Now this leaves me only 5 hours of sleep. Do you guys think i should just stick with the job and suffer for 1 year (i graduate in 1 year) or should i quit my job?

P.S. The pay isn't that good ($40,000 for network admin in Cali).

LinuxRacr

It is possible, but I remember having a similar schedule when I was going for my associates that cost me after a year of doing it. I had school from Noon to 17:00. I would go home, get a little sleep if I could, and wake up at 22:00 to drive to work at 23:00. I would work til' 07:00, drive home to get some sleep, and be back at school at Noon. After doing that for a year, it got to the point where I was starting to miss days because I would wake up, and find the alarm clock had been going off for an hour before I heard it! This eventually got me kicked out of school for a term, and I had to write to get back in. Needless to say I changed my schedule when I returned to 17:00 to 22:00 for school. That way I could actually get nice long block of sleep.

RouteThisWay

Need more information. Is this your first real IT job? How much experience do you have at that level? Do you like your job? Are you getting experience here you didn't have before? Is this just a "filler" job to pay bills? It all depends on how you view your current job you just started.

Also, do you have a wife? Kids? Single? Live at home? Depends on your financial obligations and how quitting your job would effect not only you but your family (if you have one).

As for the logistics of it, I worked from 7:00AM-5:00PM, then went to class from 6:00PM-10:00PM. Ate, slept, worked, studied, rinse, repeat. I did that for almost 2 years, so yes- it is possible. But it does suck and requires a tremendous amount of reminding yourself why you are doing it.

HLRS

40k is pretty decent, 5 hrs is kinda less. I would stick it out. cuz I needed income

santaowns

Not to discourage you but I also live in cali and I make as much as you working at the help desk. As far as sleep you will be fine, but I suggest you take a 1-2 hour nap every other day. I say this because I work graves and I work 40 hours then do school after work. Although my school is online so ymmv.

lantech

What is the breakdown of the hours. When I was in school I would wake up at 3:30AM to be at work at 4:30 am. Get off work at 3:30PM go home and then be at school from 6:00PM to around 9:30PM to 10:00PM. I was working 6 days a week. Was it hard, yes, it was very hard but well worth it to me.

Then at one point I was working from 7:00PM to 7:00AM. Would be at school at 8:00AM until about noon. Go home and sleep until it was time to pick up my daughter from daycare at about 5:00PM. I made it through the Linux class for 8 weeks. But I didn't make it through the Windows class for the next 8:00 weeks. Course the teacher was learning the material at the same time we were. Most of the time she would get to the school earlier and try and do the labs before we got there. She was teaching other Windows classes but not the particular one I was taking. Which is why she was learning it as she went along. So that class wasn't really worth it to me. She couldn't even answer some of the questions I had.

My Linux teacher was actually surprised and impressed that I completed the class with my schedule.

This is just a decision you're going to have to make yourself as to if it's worth it and what to cut out if it isn't. But it can be done.

Iristheangel

I'm on the 5 hour sleep schedule right now. I've been doing it for 2 months and only have another month to do it. It depends on how old you are and your other obligations (friends, family, significant other, etc). If you think you can handle it, go for it, but if your grades start to slip, I wouldn't let your school suffer.

Good luck!