How do I make this happen?
April 24, 2015 7:31 AM Subscribe
I'm studying on my own for a new career in web development, but "real life" keeps interfering. How can I make this a priority when so many other things demand my attention? Have you successfully done what I'm trying to do--gone back to school or studied for a new career while otherwise working full-time? How did you make it happen? I guess this is a "help me with time management and motivation" question more than anything...
For me, the "real life" consists of things like: my demanding current job, basic life things like nagging tooth problems requiring multiple dentist visits, repeated car problems, pets with ongoing health issues, and so on. I've also reached the age where I can't function without adequate sleep, nutrition and exercise, nor do I want to face down the health risks of disregarding any of these, and so have to devote time to all three each day.
About my job: I can't leave it, at least not yet. I need the salary, although right now I'm trapped in the pattern of throwing money at things to make life more convenient so that I can deal with all the stuff I have to do. However, my job leaves me mentally exhausted at the end of the day, to where the thought of trying to process more information through my brain makes me want to cry.
I've been trying to fit in an hour or two of studying before work once or twice a week, and then studying for a couple of hours each day on the weekends. This just doesn't seem like enough, though, especially since I am truly starting from scratch with learning web development.
Have you successfully done what I'm trying to do? It doesn't have to be "learn web development"--could just be any kind of new career, or really, any kind of a major new life undertaking. How did you do it? How long did it take you? Any tips to share on staying focused in the long haul?
One final note: I don't have to worry about taking care of kids, thank goodness, or this would not be happening at all.
As always, thanks for your suggestions!
For me, the "real life" consists of things like: my demanding current job, basic life things like nagging tooth problems requiring multiple dentist visits, repeated car problems, pets with ongoing health issues, and so on. I've also reached the age where I can't function without adequate sleep, nutrition and exercise, nor do I want to face down the health risks of disregarding any of these, and so have to devote time to all three each day.
About my job: I can't leave it, at least not yet. I need the salary, although right now I'm trapped in the pattern of throwing money at things to make life more convenient so that I can deal with all the stuff I have to do. However, my job leaves me mentally exhausted at the end of the day, to where the thought of trying to process more information through my brain makes me want to cry.
I've been trying to fit in an hour or two of studying before work once or twice a week, and then studying for a couple of hours each day on the weekends. This just doesn't seem like enough, though, especially since I am truly starting from scratch with learning web development.
Have you successfully done what I'm trying to do? It doesn't have to be "learn web development"--could just be any kind of new career, or really, any kind of a major new life undertaking. How did you do it? How long did it take you? Any tips to share on staying focused in the long haul?
One final note: I don't have to worry about taking care of kids, thank goodness, or this would not be happening at all.
As always, thanks for your suggestions!
Get a study buddy? If a IRL one is unavailable, free code camp has an interesting model of virtual pair programming.
posted by tinymegalo at 8:23 AM on April 24, 2015
posted by tinymegalo at 8:23 AM on April 24, 2015
This is the reason local hacker/maker/builder groups are popular. Search on meetup.com and mailing lists for your language/platform/framework of choice. If there aren't any groups you like, start your own! Local interactive agencies and dev shops are often more than willing to provide meeting space in the hopes they can recruit promising candidates.
Coding camps are another alternative.
For me personally though, the best motivator would be a real life project. Find a non-profit or a small local business that needs a website and offer to work on spec where they are free to accept or reject your work. The added benefit is that you get to add these projects to your portfolio!
posted by rada at 8:23 AM on April 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Coding camps are another alternative.
For me personally though, the best motivator would be a real life project. Find a non-profit or a small local business that needs a website and offer to work on spec where they are free to accept or reject your work. The added benefit is that you get to add these projects to your portfolio!
posted by rada at 8:23 AM on April 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
My credentials here are that I've changed careers three times, I've gone to grad school full-time while holding down one full-time and one part-time job, and I am a professional web developer.
You can probably do this, but it will require a lot of planning and prioritizing. I'm mostly approaching this from the "carving out time/energy" perspective rather than the "boost your motivation" perspective, because for me, once I took care of the first, the second was not a huge problem. I'm asking a lot of questions here but they're more things to think about, not things you should answer.
First off, do you have any paid time off? Can you take a "vacation" and commit to spending, say, 4 hours a day studying? Could you afford to take unpaid time off? What would have to happen for you to be able to afford to take time off.
Sometimes when I don't have the mental energy to do the work I really want to do, I still have the mental energy to do tasks that will make it easier for me to do that work in the future. So, maybe you don't have the energy to devote to web development, but you do have energy to devote to batch-cooking meals so that you don't have to worry about food for a few weeks. Maybe you have the energy to buy six months worth of shampoo and conditioner and soap so that you don't have to worry about that for a while.
Can you shift your bedtime earlier so that you have more time to work on your "me" project before work? Or at least get some extra sleep?
Can you cut back on socializing? Would that be worth it to you? It's OK if it's not!
Can you work on your projects while you're at work? Obviously this doesn't work for every job. Maybe you don't have time to study/work on projects while you're at work, but you might have time to do some of those other easier-life kinds of tasks? Also is there any way you can use your commute?
You say you need this job, but do you need *this* job or do you need *a* job? My secret to getting through grad school while working full-time was having a second shift (evening) job as my main job. I didn't have to be at work until 3PM. It was isolating in a lot of ways but it did give me loads of time to work on non-work things. Also things were pretty low-key at work. Think about whether it would be worth it for you to look for another job - I know, it's another project! But it might be worth the time investment.
posted by mskyle at 8:29 AM on April 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
You can probably do this, but it will require a lot of planning and prioritizing. I'm mostly approaching this from the "carving out time/energy" perspective rather than the "boost your motivation" perspective, because for me, once I took care of the first, the second was not a huge problem. I'm asking a lot of questions here but they're more things to think about, not things you should answer.
First off, do you have any paid time off? Can you take a "vacation" and commit to spending, say, 4 hours a day studying? Could you afford to take unpaid time off? What would have to happen for you to be able to afford to take time off.
Sometimes when I don't have the mental energy to do the work I really want to do, I still have the mental energy to do tasks that will make it easier for me to do that work in the future. So, maybe you don't have the energy to devote to web development, but you do have energy to devote to batch-cooking meals so that you don't have to worry about food for a few weeks. Maybe you have the energy to buy six months worth of shampoo and conditioner and soap so that you don't have to worry about that for a while.
Can you shift your bedtime earlier so that you have more time to work on your "me" project before work? Or at least get some extra sleep?
Can you cut back on socializing? Would that be worth it to you? It's OK if it's not!
Can you work on your projects while you're at work? Obviously this doesn't work for every job. Maybe you don't have time to study/work on projects while you're at work, but you might have time to do some of those other easier-life kinds of tasks? Also is there any way you can use your commute?
You say you need this job, but do you need *this* job or do you need *a* job? My secret to getting through grad school while working full-time was having a second shift (evening) job as my main job. I didn't have to be at work until 3PM. It was isolating in a lot of ways but it did give me loads of time to work on non-work things. Also things were pretty low-key at work. Think about whether it would be worth it for you to look for another job - I know, it's another project! But it might be worth the time investment.
posted by mskyle at 8:29 AM on April 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
You and I could be the same person! I started seriously attacking web development/coding about 14 months ago now. I am successful, in that I can now write some cool programs. I am not yet successful, in that I have not found a job, actually I haven't tried very hard beyond monitoring the local job market and doing some networking.
The most important thing is that I get up every single morning at 6 am and study for at least an hour before work. This is the only time each day that I can get uninterrupted time and have a fresh mind to attack the problems. I do this every single day so that it's a habit, I don't even have to think about it anymore, it's just a thing I do. It's no longer a struggle to drag myself out of bed. And this is after having spent almost 4 decades of my life as a late riser and snooze button addict.
After work, many days I am also mentally exhausted. And I have a pretty long commute. On my commute I listen to podcasts and video lectures about development or computer science. When I get home, if I can't handle the problem solving parts, I try to find other ways to learn - reading, mindlessly following along with a tutorial, etc.
Another thing that's helpful is to use Anki, which is a flashcard program that lets you create your own deck and syncs across your devices, so you can study with your phone or tablet or whatever. Nice for when you have 5 minutes of downtime.
As for staying motivated: have a clear goal and a roadmap for getting there. I have found the Odin Project to be incredibly helpful because it's a clearly drawn map for getting from point a (0 knowledge) to point z (getting hired).
Find some fun projects to do for yourself.
Find some friends you can talk to about your progress and struggles. Check out Codebuddies.org
And keep in mind that it will probably take you about 1000 hours of study to become competent and confident. That's 6 months if you treat is as a full time job and do it 40 hours per week. If you're like me and average 2 hours a day, that's almost two years of working every single day.
So keep your long game in mind. It's a marathon, yadda yadda.
Memail me if you have more questions or want to chat with someone about this. Good luck!
posted by natteringnabob at 8:38 AM on April 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
The most important thing is that I get up every single morning at 6 am and study for at least an hour before work. This is the only time each day that I can get uninterrupted time and have a fresh mind to attack the problems. I do this every single day so that it's a habit, I don't even have to think about it anymore, it's just a thing I do. It's no longer a struggle to drag myself out of bed. And this is after having spent almost 4 decades of my life as a late riser and snooze button addict.
After work, many days I am also mentally exhausted. And I have a pretty long commute. On my commute I listen to podcasts and video lectures about development or computer science. When I get home, if I can't handle the problem solving parts, I try to find other ways to learn - reading, mindlessly following along with a tutorial, etc.
Another thing that's helpful is to use Anki, which is a flashcard program that lets you create your own deck and syncs across your devices, so you can study with your phone or tablet or whatever. Nice for when you have 5 minutes of downtime.
As for staying motivated: have a clear goal and a roadmap for getting there. I have found the Odin Project to be incredibly helpful because it's a clearly drawn map for getting from point a (0 knowledge) to point z (getting hired).
Find some fun projects to do for yourself.
Find some friends you can talk to about your progress and struggles. Check out Codebuddies.org
And keep in mind that it will probably take you about 1000 hours of study to become competent and confident. That's 6 months if you treat is as a full time job and do it 40 hours per week. If you're like me and average 2 hours a day, that's almost two years of working every single day.
So keep your long game in mind. It's a marathon, yadda yadda.
Memail me if you have more questions or want to chat with someone about this. Good luck!
posted by natteringnabob at 8:38 AM on April 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
I just did this! One of the things I did to carve out time was to learn during my lunch hours at my regular job. I also met up with a study buddy on the weekends for brunch and "code club." Morning study is good if you can wake up early enough, because your brain is not exhausted by the day yet.
posted by zoetrope at 9:06 AM on April 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by zoetrope at 9:06 AM on April 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Is there anything you can try to automate at your current job? Or software solution you think could make your day-to-day activity more effective? If so, that makes an excellent learning project, brings coding skills into the scope of your current responsibilities (and one of your biggest time commitments), gives you something you could put on a resumé... and might even free up some time.
posted by weston at 9:09 AM on April 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by weston at 9:09 AM on April 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
So, I assume you're doing this in order to provide a viable career change away from your current "demanding" job to (what you anticipate will be) a more easygoing and/or rewarding job in web development. Rather than, say, a simple hobby interest in this new field.
If I'm right, my suggestion is: slack off at work. Simply phone it in as much as possible and quit trying to impress people. Get there late (if you study in the morning) or leave early (to enable evening studying). Work from home if there is any way they'll let you - then at least you can save on your commute time and in-office stress, even if you are technically still "on the clock" for 7 or 8 hours a day.
I know a guy who did this for a long, long time in order to facilitate his poorly paying but life-fulfilling work in theater. Maybe it seems scary and stressful, but it sounds like this job is eating your life. Much like you simply "need" appropriate sleep, nutrition, and exercise at this point in your life, perhaps you just need to let go of this job a little bit if you're ever going to get anything else done. View it as "partly quitting"; if you intend to leave this job as soon as you can anyway, then you don't need to worry about long term security or career advancement, so you can quit doing the things now that would reap you those rewards later. Good luck!
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 10:39 AM on April 24, 2015
If I'm right, my suggestion is: slack off at work. Simply phone it in as much as possible and quit trying to impress people. Get there late (if you study in the morning) or leave early (to enable evening studying). Work from home if there is any way they'll let you - then at least you can save on your commute time and in-office stress, even if you are technically still "on the clock" for 7 or 8 hours a day.
I know a guy who did this for a long, long time in order to facilitate his poorly paying but life-fulfilling work in theater. Maybe it seems scary and stressful, but it sounds like this job is eating your life. Much like you simply "need" appropriate sleep, nutrition, and exercise at this point in your life, perhaps you just need to let go of this job a little bit if you're ever going to get anything else done. View it as "partly quitting"; if you intend to leave this job as soon as you can anyway, then you don't need to worry about long term security or career advancement, so you can quit doing the things now that would reap you those rewards later. Good luck!
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 10:39 AM on April 24, 2015
Yeah, I've done this. You either get up two hours earlier and study before work, or schedule two hours and study after work.
On Saturday or Sunday - not both - you block out 10 hours for study.
Now you are studying for 20 hours a week.
If you have a dental appointment that takes two hours, and you can't make up the time elsewhere in your day, then that's a day you didn't have time to study. C'est la vie.
posted by tel3path at 1:33 PM on April 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
On Saturday or Sunday - not both - you block out 10 hours for study.
Now you are studying for 20 hours a week.
If you have a dental appointment that takes two hours, and you can't make up the time elsewhere in your day, then that's a day you didn't have time to study. C'est la vie.
posted by tel3path at 1:33 PM on April 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Thank you so much for these motivating answers! Now to attempt to apply them in reality...
posted by Sockrates at 7:21 PM on April 24, 2015
posted by Sockrates at 7:21 PM on April 24, 2015
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