Working Overnight/3rd Shift - 80+ hours/wk (debt, apply, collect)

[RowingMunkeyCU]

So I'm about to start my first overnight job in a couple of weeks and was wondering if anyone here has (or is currently) working the late shift?

With large school loans (~$40k), no savings (well, ~$400/mo going into an IRA, but it's not liquid), and costs in the future that aren't inexpensive (engagement ring, wedding, etc), I've decided to step up my income with a second job.

In addition to my day job (software programmer) which is a M-F 8:30AM-4:30PM, I'm starting a help desk position M-Th 10PM-8AM. Any advice on how to cope with the long hours, and keep my relationships from falling apart?

Minimally, I'm looking to keep it for at least a year, if I can manage for 3 years, I'll have my loans completely paid off (2 years of work for those) and another year for an emergency fund, engagement ring and wedding. However, not necessarily in that order. What's the longest period of time you've continuously worked 80 hours/wk?

[Fnix]

I did a 3:45am-9am--- 11am-6pm M-Sa job for 2 years. Only advice I can give is relish all your sleep. When you get home after the first job it's gonna be hard to sleep with so much on your mind. But you'll be so tired you wont be able to do anything else.

I got fired from the 11am-6pm one. It was only to make extra money and extra I made, about 30k extra.

[Iwonderwhy]

Working 80+ hours a week sounds crazy to me. That means all work no life and potential negative effect on your health. I would definitely not do that, no matter how much extra money you can earn. Not even one week, let alone 3 years. No way.

[Crew Chief]

I leave the house at 10 p.m. to start an 11 p.m. shift. I drive up to 11 hours and can work 14, so my workday ends, on average, at 11 a.m the next morning. I love what I do, but it really takes a toll on me working that many hours. When I come home, I can't go to sleep right away, so I jump on C-D. Sometimes I don't get to bed until after 2 p.m. So I end up taking an "extended nap" and get up when my wife gets home from work. Thens it's back to bed from 7-9 p.m for another nap. I'm exhausted by the weekend and it's pretty much divided between sleep and getting the chores done we don't have time for during the week. Gotta love modern life...

RowingMunkey, best of luck; hope it doesn't burn you out...

[mrsengle]

I did something similar once, for three months. I worked the night shift (6pm - 4am), one week on, one week off. It was great for my school schedule, and I had plenty of time to adjust my sleeping habits.

The guy that worked my week off quit. He didn't even show up to collect his paycheck. I picked up that shift (school was still my second job), and I got one day off every two weeks. At first, everything was fine (and the overtime was great), but at the end of three months, I was a wreck. I wasn't really physically tired, but I was mentally drained.

If you are doing the helpdesk thing from home, I think that will help tremendously. An old roomate of mine did it at those hours, and I would stay up with him sometimes and chat or watch a movie. Eat a home-cooked meal, that sort of thing.

Other than that, take your vitamins and try to eat well. Try some acetyl-L-carnitine and rhodeola rosea - and don't forget your good friends Jolt and Vivarin

[Sassberto]

You are too focused on immediate money. Concentrate on your software day job and get good. In 3 years you can double your income. I have nearly quadrupled my starting salary in 8 years of software development.

[recycled]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

You are too focused on immediate money. Concentrate on your software day job and get good. In 3 years you can double your income. I have nearly quadrupled my starting salary in 8 years of software development.

Good advice Sassberto, I can't imagine how a person could write code successfully unless they are mentally very sharp and focused (from being well rested). I work in a technical engineering job, and when I dive into a big project, I need the concentration and brain cells to be in good working order. Otherwise, it seems like you begin to mentally fade and can't accomplish the tasks.

[missannie]

I did the night shift for 3 years and never got used to the hours. I went back to day hours in November and feel normal again now.

[RowingMunkeyCU]

Unfortunately, I don't really have the option of waiting around and 'hoping' that my salary will increase by 2 to 4 times (I currently make ~$38k/yr).

I work for a HMO that uses a lot of old tech (COBOL) with a majority of my duties leaving me focused on support that should be handled by the help desk. The rest of the time, I get to do a little 'development' work in FoxPro writing simple data extracts for another outdated FoxPro-based software package (TeleMagic). The position is far from challenging, and requires little thought. The company has decent benefits (4wks vacation/yr), but not much room for growth (from my perspective).

The IT department is very segregated into it's different teams, a web dev team, a database team, an EDI team, etc. My current position is taking me nowhere, and even though there are a couple of open positions in other areas (one in Web, one in Database) if I applied and didn't get the position (since I don't have much experience in either, other than a bit of tinkering), wouldn't it look bad to my current boss (and possibly result in job loss)?

I'm interviewing next week for a position that could potentially be a great experience builder (they're looking for a C++/C# dev). I don't have any business experience with either, but spent a lot of time academically using c++. The problem is that the benefits suck (5 days vacation/yr) and the company is pretty volatile (Kodak).

But anyway, the night job will nearly double my salary while I figure out what to do in regards to a day job. And additionally, I'll be able to build an 'emergency' fund, so should I apply for an internal position, not get it, then lose my job, I'll at least have a little time to find a new job instead of immediately going into massive debt.

[mrsengle]

Originally Posted by RowingMunkeyCU

Unfortunately, I don't really have the option of waiting around and 'hoping' that my salary will increase by 2 to 4 times (I currently make ~$38k/yr).

I work for a HMO that uses a lot of old tech (COBOL) with a majority of my duties leaving me focused on support that should be handled by the help desk. The rest of the time, I get to do a little 'development' work in FoxPro writing simple data extracts for another outdated FoxPro-based software package (TeleMagic). The position is far from challenging, and requires little thought. The company has decent benefits (4wks vacation/yr), but not much room for growth (from my perspective).

The IT department is very segregated into it's different teams, a web dev team, a database team, an EDI team, etc. My current position is taking me nowhere, and even though there are a couple of open positions in other areas (one in Web, one in Database) if I applied and didn't get the position (since I don't have much experience in either, other than a bit of tinkering), wouldn't it look bad to my current boss (and possibly result in job loss)?

I'm interviewing next week for a position that could potentially be a great experience builder (they're looking for a C++/C# dev). I don't have any business experience with either, but spent a lot of time academically using c++. The problem is that the benefits suck (5 days vacation/yr) and the company is pretty volatile (Kodak).

But anyway, the night job will nearly double my salary while I figure out what to do in regards to a day job. And additionally, I'll be able to build an 'emergency' fund, so should I apply for an internal position, not get it, then lose my job, I'll at least have a little time to find a new job instead of immediately going into massive debt.

Do you have a bachelor's?