How to find that balance?

Hey all,

I am sure there have been other threads on this topic. I am curious how everyone finds the balance between work/certifications and family time etc. I ask this because lately I have been on a roll with certifications and pursuits in that nature but it has also started to impact my home life, i.e. spending less time with the family and wanting to spend more time studying. On one hand getting certifications is great and I enjoy gaining more knowledge and accomplishing the certifications but on the other I know that not all of them are absolutely necessary or at least in as short of a time as I tend to want to do them.

I am curious, how do you all balance wanting to pursue certifications and also spending time with family and keeping the home life happy? I've noticed that pursuing certifications can possibly become addicting and interfere with happiness at home if you let it become too much of a priority.

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MAC_Addy

I get up at 4am to study until 6:30AM, then I work all day with no lunch, and then when I get home, spend time with my wife and son

zxbane

Yeah that is what I am slowly learning is that it will likely have to be done very early, during downtime at work, or late at night!

MAC_Addy

It is definitely difficult when you have a family. I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing, at all. I wouldn't change a thing about my family. I just have to prioritize in my studies. Nothing that caffeine can't fix

emerald_octane

+1 for early morning work. The way I see it, i'm competing with guys (or gals) who have no outside responsibilities other than work, so they can stay longer, study etc with no distraction, but I have a family to feed. Having a family was definitely my choice, so i'm all right giving up leisure time to read&lab, save for the few moments I get on TE.

Don't rule out creative study methods as well. Flash cards are excellent for quick reviews, especially if you use an application that can assist you in figuring out what you need to study automatically. Using audio such as CBT nuggets works as well.

Eventually though I'm going to slow down on certs. I'm not really comfortable unless i'm learning something, but I need to rest up and take care of some personal projects before getting into study mode again. I'm satisfied with my progress thus far however.

FloOz

It's been a real struggle for me since I started my new job. Now that I have more responsibilities I feel like I have less time to study. Which in the end real world experience definitely outweighs the cert. My current schedule looks like this.

Monday through Thursday:
- Work: 9am - 6pm (sometimes later/earlier depending on changes)
- 7pm-8pm: Run, Eat, Shower
- 8pm-11pm: Study

Friday and Saturday:
- I usually hang out with friends/family/gf. Go out to bars and such.

Sunday:
- Study for usually 3-5 hours.

My life in a nutshell

tprice5

MAC_Addy wrote: »

Nothing that caffeine can't fix

+1 for caffeine.

zxbane

Lol, my problem isn't the energy levels as much as it is the time. I am running into problems with taking from family time in order to study, to the point where it is causing conflict

DevilWAH

Family comes first. End of for me.

impelse

You cannot study at the same speed of people without family.

Something that it worked for me is stick with the goal and try to study a little bit daily.

Nutsacjac

30 mins at lunch, stay up an hour late before bed. 90 mins a day for study/lab really helps solidify concepts plus I don't skimp on family responsibilities

kohr-ah

* Train ride downtown - Read
* Lunch - Read or if it is nice out go for a walk (sometimes you need a break)
* Train ride home - Read/Lab/Videos
and after the little one goes to bed I will sit my by wife and read for a little bit.

Like others said I dont get as much in as other people but I have learned it also keeps me from stressing out and I seem to retain it better also.

Otherwise I used to get up about an hour early and read when I worked at the MSP (schedule, what schedule.. oh and family.. what family) then used to read in my car on lunch :P Took a while but I got the job done and got my CCNP.

Xyro

I do not believe there is true balance. One is always going to outweigh the other. Some people have the weight more on family side and some have it more on the career side. The way I view it is that my career is for my family; therefore, my family must be understanding about my career getting more time.

Node Man

Successful people are masters of time (and energy) management.

zxbane

Thanks for the insight all, it is interesting to see how others attempt to balance it all

jvrlopez

When it comes to certifications or studying, I'll lightly study at first so as not to impact time with my wife or family. After I'm a little comfortable, I'll schedule the exam to give me a deadline and then hit the studying hard. At this time, I'll ask my wife to give me some space and time to knock this out.

DevilWAH

Xyro wrote: »

I do not believe there is true balance.

I disagree, the right balance is the one you are happy with. There is not one "true" balance that is the same for all people. but each person can find there own.

When you find it you are as happy waking up to go to work, as you are leaving work to go home at the end of the day. I am not looking to be a millionaire, I want to work on projects that are interesting. At the moment I do a lot of that and I don't worry about the certifications any more, I have managed enough high profile projects that I can write an impressive CV if I need to. These days I study for what I need to know, every now and then I decided to take another exam, but only to keep certs current.

I don't let family get in the way when I am at work, and when I am at home family take preference.

About7Narwhal

I know this isn't an option for everyone, but I got a new job with a different shift. I worked nights and it was leaving me too tired for school, friends, or family. I have sense gotten a day job and have worked out a schedule that balances school study, certification study, work, and family.

The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to sit down with your loved ones (in my case, parents) and set aside a set time of day or day of the week for family. I know that on Sunday I will be spending time at my parents house with no study materials. This serves the benefit of visiting with family and taking that much needed break to spin down to zero and reset after a long week.

snadam

MAC_Addy wrote: »

I get up at 4am to study until 6:30AM, then I work all day with no lunch, and then when I get home, spend time with my wife and son

Studying early is not a bad idea. I may try that. Im in the pool of Dads/Husbands, so there is absolutely NO chance of studying before 8 or so with a kid. I find it fascinating how much time I had when I was single and studying, to when I was married and studying, to now being married and with a kid studying. Definite decrease in flexibility. Schedule is key.

MAC_Addy

snadam - funny you should mention studying when single, to married, to married with a kid.. There's a HUGE difference. Looking back, I should have studied more when I was single. I'm not saying I don't like my current status; I wouldn't change it for the world. But, I feel as though I could have many more certifications than I do now. Although, I have gained A LOT of experience over the past 12 years that I have been in IT. Sometimes experience outweighs certifications... But then again, experience with certifications is a road I like to follow.

Snow.bros

jvrlopez wrote: »

After I'm a little comfortable, I'll schedule the exam to give me a deadline and then hit the studying hard.

That's exactly my style, I don't do that intentionally though I only do this after seeing that I spent a lot of time studying for one exam, it definitely helps to eliminate the comfort zone and forces you to work even more harder.

Sometimes I just think the idea of self studying makes me even more lazier because there is that comfort of having all the time in the world to prepare but if it wasn't for that I believe would have already had my MCSE cert and now working on my CCNA by the beginning of the year.

I think the only way to find the right balance is, you just have to focus, discipline yourself and manage your time efficiently.

j33per

I tend to go seasonal - more studies and certs in the winter and more family time in the warmer seasons. Also go for quick wins... I found it easy to hit server +, security + while studying for CISA. Had to cover the info anyway...

scaredoftests

Sometimes..there is no balance. LOL

N2IT

I'm actually looking to transition into another role, one more client facing with less time studying for certifications and technology. I recently spoke to a VP in our company and I am looking at transitioning into the marketing team. This seems to be a better balance for me and the pay is a lot more. To each their own though......

I'm pretty much capped out on certifications anyway.

bertieb

I've probably got it easier when I do want to do some study towards a specific cert though, as I am married but we don't want children and the wife reads books like Johnny5 so its easy for me to disappear upstairs in the study on an evening. I can imagine for those of you with children etc it'd be very difficult indeed.

Work hard, play harder is my general rule of thumb

W Stewart

When I get into something I'm pretty one track minded so I don't really focus on anything but whatever it is that I'm studying when I'm going for a cert. That's partially due to my short attention span and the fact that I have to be completely absorbed in something in order to absorb any information from it. When I was first starting out, I felt that I needed more certifications to get to that next step in my career so my wife(girlfriend at the time) just had to bear with me while I did what I needed to do to improve our quality of life. Now she doesn't have to work and can go to school fulltime and we can live in a decent neighborhood.

That being said, I've been on the linux side of things where certs aren't all that important but I'm starting to move over to the network/telephony side of things so it may be time to study for that CCNA voice one I'm finished with WGU.

SteveFT

You'd be amazed at the number of things you can cut out of your life. We have to be happy and enjoy life, but I cut out watching TV for the most part. Additionally, I'll go out with friends for a few hours, but I don't stay out until 3am and drink too much. I know this will make me useless the following day.

I guess I'm blessed by my girlfriend enjoying sleeping in on the weekends. I'm already 2-3 hours into studying by the time she wakes up.