Combining work and study; it is never easy

In my country, it isn't strange to hear or see students who are working in addition to handling their studies. Some students are the ones sponsoring themselves and they have no option but to work in order to raise money to pay school fees and all other bills. Some others take up different jobs because they get little to no allowance from their parents, so they have to fend for themselves.

I am no stranger when it comes to studying and working at the same time, I did that when I was in my first year at the university. A friend of mine got me a job in one of the restaurants on campus and the owner is a very kind woman who gave me a choice of working the morning shift or afternoon shift.

I picked the afternoon shift after looking at the lecture schedule and realized most of my classes were held in the morning. In the morning, I go to class and once that is over, I head over to the restaurant and work my shift. One of the perks of working there is that I get free lunch and when I am going home around 6 pm, I am also given free food, so I don't have to worry about food when I get home.

This went on for a year and I had no problems combining both work and studies. The only time a clash occurred was during days when we had laboratory practicals which are usually held in the afternoon, but the owner of the restaurants always give me permission to go for the practicals and return when I am done.

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When I got to my second year, I thought things will continue that way but the university took off the kiddies gloves they were using to handle first-year students and I realized I won't be able to keep working at the restaurant and going to lectures. My department is very strict when it comes to attending class, most lectures take attendance of students that comes to class

If you don't meet up with 70% of the total lectures of a particular course, you won't be allowed to write that course during an exam, which means it's automatic carryover (no kidding!). I can't risk failing any course simply because I am working, there's no way I can work any of the shifts (morning and afternoon) because we have classes from 8 am till at least 4 pm, on some days we end around 6 pm.

Seeing as I couldn't continue with the restaurant job or any other job, I resorted to looking for opportunities online and I came across some survey websites where you get paid for taking part in different surveys. It was incredibly stressful because some surveys could take up to 2 hours, but I usually took them at night when I am done with the important things I needed to do.

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Some of the survey websites closed down after a while and the ones that were remaining weren't paying that much, so it was time to move on to something else. The COVID-19 lockdown provided me with the opportunity to learn a digital skill and I picked graphics design. It wasn't hard to work as a graphics designer and study at the same time because I freelanced.

I take jobs whenever I want and I usually give a longer completion time than required (if a project is to take a day to complete, I tell the client to give me 3 days). With this method, I can focus more on my studies while I occasionally design at night. I didn't really like graphics design, it was just something I did to earn some cash. So, when I discovered hive and readcash, I dropped it.

Blogging is a job on its own and if you want to make something out of it, you must give it your all. It's easier said than done if you're a student, actively blogging will look like you're taking two majors at the same time. One minute you're writing a term paper that's to be submitted tomorrow, and the next minute you're writing an article to be published that night.

One minute you're reading articles and engaging with other users, the next minute you're reading for an exam scheduled for tomorrow. You earn tokens in one and subsequently money while in the other, you earn marks and subsequently grades. So, there's a need to strike a balance between these two, lest you end up sacrificing one for the other.

One way I do this is to attend classes during the day and whenever we have a break, I go to a quiet place, hop online, and start engaging with other users. By the time I get home later in the evening, I can then focus on writing my article. It was hard at first but I slowly got used to it, and that's as a result of consistency, it eventually turned into a habit.

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For those planning on working and studying at the same time, here are some tips that might help you:

1. You should first figure out the nature of your school's policy when it comes to lectures; do they make it compulsory for students to attend lectures?
2. Speak to your course adviser to see if you can come to a compromise if your work is clashing with your classes. Some of my classmates did this and they manage to balance both worlds.
3. Plan your schedules accordingly. Combining work and study isn't easy but with proper time management, it can be easier.
4. If you plan on working for someone, then try and get a job that runs on shifts. That way you won't have to spend an entire day at work.
5. You should probably consider picking up a digital skill and monetizing it if you can. It's a lot easier to manage digital jobs than physical ones.

Thanks for reading

Connect with me on:
Twitter: @kushyzeena
Readcash: @kushyzee