There has always been a debate on whether or not it’s a good idea for students in programs with high workloads to work a job on the side. While some students have to in order to survive, others do it because money is an attractive perk, or they want to save it up or get ahead in their career. Whatever the reason, students that do work makeup 56% of the student population.
Evan Makris is a Western Student. He is enrolled in the computer science program and is fortunate enough to have an accomodating employer.
“I’m lucky enough that if I do need more time to work on school work, my work will usually accommodate that to me so I don’t have to worry about it. But there have been times where I do have stuff do that I might need a little more time for, but I do have to work regardless.”
Ryan Fisher is also in a computer program except this time at Fanshawe. His number one tip for students with demanding programs who work, is consistency and planning.
“I think having a schedule is really really important. You know, maybe at the beginning of a week, it might look like I don’t really have a lot of work to be done right now, and then all of a sudden you kind of start taking downtime and that work is going to start piling up. So I think the biggest thing for me is consistency. Even if it seems like you don’t want to work, get that assignment started early, get a couple hours in every single day. And try just work away at that at that workload. Because you know, you might not realize it, but as that work piles up, it just adds on.”
He later explained that he oftentimes has to push through 10 hour study sessions to make up for lost time, but his job at IBM is an opportunity to get his foot in the door, and that makes it worth it.
