When a Job Promotion Turns your Life Upside-Down

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't been online much the past few weeks. This is because I recently got a promotion at work that has taken my already crazy life to a whole new level.

I have been working as an engineering intern at my company for awhile now and they decided to bring me on as an "actual" employee. This came with a slight increase in salary (from $33 per hour to $35 per hour working 40-60 hours a week) and added a significant amount of traveling.

I should mention that I am a full time college student as well. Luckily my boss is very understanding, and I have flexible hours/do a lot of work from home. Even still This leaves very little free time and now that I am having to travel all the time I find myself studying for classes in airports/airplanes more than I am at home.

In the past few weeks I have been out to Glendale, California... up to Toronto, Canada... and all the way to Frankfurt, Germany. Honestly I don't think that I can keep this up long term. The jet lag alone is killing me.

I'm at a loss of what to do. I love my job and I am extremely thankful for it... I can't stand the thought of letting my boss/coworkers down, but as a student I can't let my classes/grades slip away.

We are in the very beginning stages of a new project so I am hopeful that the amount of travel will go down once we move into the prototyping/production/testing phases of this project... but I know that I will be right back in this same situation in a few months when we start the next project.

I guess that this was more of a rant than anything else... thanks for reading. any thoughts/comments are appreciated.

How many more classes do you have to get through before you reach your goals?

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Originally Posted by GoFride

How many more classes do you have to get through before you reach your goals?

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I've still got 3 semesters on my Undergrad, then I would like to get a Masters... but I will have to reevaluate that when I get there.

It's unlikely that you would be able to keep up with this schedule through 3 semesters. Do you have the option of cutting back to part time (job, not school)?

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Originally Posted by GoFride

It's unlikely that you would be able to keep up with this schedule through 3 semesters. Do you have the option of cutting back to part time (job, not school)?

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I think I am going to see if I can cut back on the travel... Maybe I could participate via conference call or something. I can deal with the hours, it's just the travel that pushes it over the edge.

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

I think I am going to see if I can cut back on the travel... Maybe I could participate via conference call or something. I can deal with the hours, it's just the travel that pushes it over the edge.

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I would try this. Or why not go to school part time?
It may take you another semester or two but you would still get the degree. Youre making good money and in the big scheme of things whats an extra year in school? Then once you get your BS your work may pay or at least help pay for your masters. That seems like a pretty good idea to me. Is there any reason youre in a hurry to get your BS and wouldnt wanna go this route?

I don't have any helpful info, just sympathy for a crazy busy schedule. Maybe your conference call idea would work? Good luck with what ever you do. :)

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

With all the technology we have, you can be at all those places mentioned in 5 minutes via the internet. That's a great idea, and I hope it goes through. Good luck Aaron! The boards are suffering without you :P!!

Wow you have one crazy schedule! I am a full time student living off odd ball jobs and GI Bill (my wife is doing the same so its not as tight as it sounds) and I struggle with school! Actually I HATE school! If I was making 35/hr I wouldnt be going to school but I am sure your job requires that you complete your degree... I am applying for State Patrol and hoping to get hired and go to the academy in the fall.... In which case I am dropping the degree thing and I will sadly also be postponing snake breeding until next year :(.... Good luck to you I hope everything works out!

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Wow you have one crazy schedule! I am a full time student living off odd ball jobs and GI Bill (my wife is doing the same so its not as tight as it sounds) and I struggle with school! Actually I HATE school! If I was making 35/hr I wouldnt be going to school but I am sure your job requires that you complete your degree... I am applying for State Patrol and hoping to get hired and go to the academy in the fall.... In which case I am dropping the degree thing and I will sadly also be postponing snake breeding until next year :(.... Good luck to you I hope everything works out!

Hang in there. It will be worth it in the end. I finished the last year of my bachelor's degree by going to school five nights a week and working a 50 hour work week. In addition, I had a family. Luckily, my wife was very supportive and got me through it. Don't give up. Keep pushing. Use every spare minute you have to do homework. It ain't easy.

I would go with the job, & drop school but then again I'm not very intelligent when it comes to my own decisions. Oh who am I kidding? I would drop school and go for the job. <- That's my decision, not what you should do, unless you want to...

The whole point of going to school is to get educated enough to get a job that you want. If this job is what you want the school becomes secondary. You're ahead of the curve. Just cut back on how many classes you take. That's a stellar hourly rate BTW. I don't make anywhere near that and I've been in the real world for 10 years.

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Originally Posted by MasonC2K

The whole point of going to school is to get educated enough to get a job that you want.

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This is true, however, jobs are not permanent and can be lost. Education can never be taken away and will provide you with better opportunities. Stick with the school. It can be done, there are lots of people out here who have been where you are and wanted to quit over and over. In between semesters, take a day or two off and recharge. Find your inner strength and pull through! :strong:

the first rule of fight club is....

School comes first in my opinion. School is a student's job.
Jobs come and go, but your degree will always be there. You only have 3 semesters left. That isn't long in respect to life.

You shouldn't quit school to work full time just because you're making some money now. Money often clouds judgement. I've known more than a few people who have dropped out of college because they thought they became some big shot making some money. These people ended up screwing up their lives a few years later down the road and regretting they didn't finish school.
I'm not saying you're doing that or have the mind set, but just be careful.

Having a college degree will help when finding other jobs. Most companies would not take on an employee without at least a Bachelors. Or at least in my field (BioSci), most will not hire anybody below a BS degree.

It sounds like your boss is very understanding. Let him know that school is your number one priority until you graduate. I'm sure he would respect that decision. Come up with a compromise. Maybe work full time in the summer if you're not taking summer classes. And work part time during the regular school term. Tell them you can still work for them, but maybe not as much as they want you to until you at least graduate.

It would be such a waste of an education and money if you quite school or fall behind now. You've accomplished so much already, you're almost there to your degree. You just got to push on a little longer! I believe in you Aaron.

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Originally Posted by DrDooLittle

I don't have any helpful info, just sympathy for a crazy busy schedule. Maybe your conference call idea would work? Good luck with what ever you do. :)

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X2. Sounds like you're running yourself ragged. Do what's best for you before worrying about letting anyone down. You're going to really let them down when you completely burn out and fail school or your job performance takes a dive from this. Don't let that happen!

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Originally Posted by Don

This is true, however, jobs are not permanent and can be lost. Education can never be taken away and will provide you with better opportunities. Stick with the school. It can be done, there are lots of people out here who have been where you are and wanted to quit over and over. In between semesters, take a day or two off and recharge. Find your inner strength and pull through! :strong:

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I didn't say not to stick with school. I just said to slow it down. At this point job > school if it's what he wants to do for a career. If this job is just a means to an end then that's different. I can tell you from experience that that college degree just gets your foot in the door. Once you are in and establish yourself in the job place, future employers don't give a flying flip about your degree. It's your job experience that matters. At least that's how it is in IT. A person with 10 yrs experience with no degree will get a job over someone with a Masters and no experience every time.

Personally I would pursue finishing the degree as a matter of pride.

First of all, congrats on the promotion. A well paying job is a great thing to have, and is rarer as of late than it's been in a long time.

As much as I hate to say it, that job may very well be worth MORE than your continuing education at this point. Good luck on staying sane, I don't think I could pull off a 60 hr week while traveling and being a full time student.

I took the path of work before school... because I didn't know what I wanted a degree in, and didn't want to continue pouring money into something I wasn't sure about. I was also having difficulty affording bills on a limited work schedule. I'm now in a corporate work environment, making just under $16/hr with mandatory time and a half overtime every week, which is more than double what I was making at my last job. I'm in a comfortable spot for me, and have finally reached a point where I can go back to school... it's frightening to return to school, but I am reminded by someone at work (coworkers, managers, etc) EVERY COUPLE OF DAYS that I need to finish my degree. If I apply for the next level within my office, even just putting 'pursuing education' gives me a leg up over 'no degree' for the job. I work in an office position where a degree RARELY gives anybody any functional advantage over anyone else... and even if I get a degree in something completely unrelated and irrelevant to my work.. I will be forever stunted in this position if I don't finish my education.

I do have a point in all that rambling somewhere: Don't give up on school. Do so at a slower pace if you need to, but any employer should understand your situation, and encourage you to finish your degree. If they give a fuss about reducing your responsibilities or hours, explain to them that you'll only be more of an asset once your degree is completed.

If you ever find a job you like more, you don't want to have to explain "I didn't finish my degree because I found a job I liked, and didn't think ahead enough to think my education might benefit me in the future". If asked why you had to cut back hours at your current job, it would be much better to explain "I needed to finish my education, so that I could be a stronger, more dependable employee, who follows through on commitments".

Not saying you're doing one thing or the other, just following the theme of the other responses.. and had to make sure I put in my input. Finish your degree!

Well just an update I've taken a few pieces of advice from this thread and have come out in a much better situation.

I have reduced the number of classes I will be taking this fall (down to 10 credit hours from 16 *2 less classes) and after speaking with my boss he came to understand that the quality of my work will certainly slip with a schedule as crazy as it was... and that I have to have school as my first priority. So now I only work 40 hours a week, and will have limited traveling. Some is necessary for my job as I have to get hands on experience with new technologies that will be incorporated into upcoming projects. The rest of the traveling will be replaced with video conferences.

Still a busy schedule but a manageable one... I'll sleep when I'm dead lol.

Still sounds crazy, but possibly manageable = ) Hope it continues to work out for you!

Hang in there Aaron. It will all be worth it in the end. Once you get that education, NO ONE can take it away. Getting your degree like this will make it much more valuable to you. If you need some support, feel free to PM me. I've been there and know what you are going through. Good luck!

Oh, and if all else fails, you can go to the Five Minute University! Warning, you may have to be of a certain age to enjoy the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO8x8eoU3L4

Hang in there. 3 semesters will fly by. You'll be happy in the long run that you endured the short term struggle.

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

Well just an update I've taken a few pieces of advice from this thread and have come out in a much better situation.

I have reduced the number of classes I will be taking this fall (down to 10 credit hours from 16 *2 less classes) and after speaking with my boss he came to understand that the quality of my work will certainly slip with a schedule as crazy as it was... and that I have to have school as my first priority. So now I only work 40 hours a week, and will have limited traveling. Some is necessary for my job as I have to get hands on experience with new technologies that will be incorporated into upcoming projects. The rest of the traveling will be replaced with video conferences.

Still a busy schedule but a manageable one... I'll sleep when I'm dead lol.

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Im glad you followed the advice, i think it will really end up benefitting you in the end. Still a busy schedule but much more manageable.:gj:

Hope to see you still stop in from time to time! :)