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I have a question as it's been bothering me for a while now.
As a 19 year old freshman in college, should I prioritize work or school?
My situation as it stands is this:
I am enrolled in a community school that is inexpensive and feeds into the university I'd like to graduate from. I've been taking ~2 classes while working full time and starting a business. My full time job is in the same general field as where I would like to end up after college, I am just not making the amount of money I'd like to be making the rest of my life.
I could continue taking 2 classes per semester and not graduate until I'm 50, but I'll have time to work on my business which I am very excited for, and could not afford without working full-time.
Alternatively, I could drop my business, cut back on hours of work (my employer is a big advocate of education and would have no problem with that) and focus on getting the degrees I want: Associates with a focus on Electromechanical Engineering, Bachelor in Computer Science and I'd like to go back for mathematics or modern physics.
Obviously something has to be sacrificed. What I want to know is, for those of you that have already made the decision I am making, what did you do and would you go back to change it?
I think you should keep doing what you are doing but give some thought to cutting back with your hrs at work enough so you are able to take an additional class here and there.
No one is making the kind of money they want for the rest of their life at age 19. I think I was making $9 per hour working in lumber yard part-time while I went to school full-time. So don't let that get you down.
I would focus on the college degree now because after a point in your life (typically after marriage and kids) you will be far less able and/or motivated to do that. Work will always be there and so will the business you are attempting to start. All of the things that are very important later in life - stability of a paycheck, benefits, health insurance, etc. are not as critical now as they soon will be while you're so young.
No one is making the kind of money they want for the rest of their life at age 19. I think I was making $9 per hour working in lumber yard part-time while I went to school full-time. So don't let that get you down.
I would focus on the college degree now because after a point in your life (typically after marriage and kids) you will be far less able and/or motivated to do that. Work will always be there and so will the business you are attempting to start. All of the things that are very important later in life - stability of a paycheck, benefits, health insurance, etc. are not as critical now as they soon will be while you're so young.
Totally agree. Focus on school, work enough to pay those bills. In terms of your business, postpone those plans, and focus all your energy on getting through school. The quicker you do that, you'll have that behind you. Money you can always earn, and when starting a business, it's easy to let that seduce you into spending more time on the business, less on your schooling. I've got two small businesses, and I can tell you that I've never worked so hard as when I'm working for myself -- and there is always something more to do, another opportunity just within reaching distance. I think that's probably the nature of being a business owner.
Focus on school, take more classes and get that squared away. You will need to make time for a serious relationship and possibly children in the not too distant future. That will be much easier if you've got your schooling done first.
I think you should keep doing what you are doing but give some thought to cutting back with your hrs at work enough so you are able to take an additional class here and there.
Best of luck
My manager extended this option to me. I may end up doing this for Summer classes.
If I only cut back a few hours, it won't make a terribly large difference in pay and will make school a bit faster.
Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Florida2014
No one is making the kind of money they want for the rest of their life at age 19. I think I was making $9 per hour working in lumber yard part-time while I went to school full-time. So don't let that get you down.
I would focus on the college degree now because after a point in your life (typically after marriage and kids) you will be far less able and/or motivated to do that. Work will always be there and so will the business you are attempting to start. All of the things that are very important later in life - stability of a paycheck, benefits, health insurance, etc. are not as critical now as they soon will be while you're so young.
Thanks! This sounds very realistic. I think some of my financial problems are from attempting to live outside my means, but there's no way I could afford a wife, let alone children
I'm not entirely sure the business will always be there. Our entire goal is to ride the wave as one of the first contenders in a rather large field emerging this year. My business manager has been hiring contractors (where our development team insists on 1 or 2 contractors, the business manager keeps bringing up deadlines and insists on like 4 or 5 which ramps costs up significantly.) On one hand, this field has a large possibility of absolutely exploding in the next year, but on the other hand, with our business manager, costs seem to be getting unmanageable in the immediate future.
My point with this is:
1. If this doesn't get done now, we may very well miss our opportunity to be a well established competitor in potentially the next chapter of the tech world.
2. The way my partners insist on running the business (hiring many contractors in order to meet highly unrealistic deadlines that our developers in house won't be able to make anyhow), it may not last that long in any case.
I'm sure there will always be the next big thing that a startup could jump into, but it's hard to not feel the "This is my only chance" sort of feeling.
I appreciate your input though. I guess I really have to decide what I value the most. Take the risk starting a business and potentially push back degrees by several years or work towards financial stability. This is one I probably have to decide for myself
Quote:
Originally Posted by Inquring81
Totally agree. Focus on school, work enough to pay those bills. In terms of your business, postpone those plans, and focus all your energy on getting through school. The quicker you do that, you'll have that behind you. Money you can always earn, and when starting a business, it's easy to let that seduce you into spending more time on the business, less on your schooling. I've got two small businesses, and I can tell you that I've never worked so hard as when I'm working for myself -- and there is always something more to do, another opportunity just within reaching distance. I think that's probably the nature of being a business owner.
Focus on school, take more classes and get that squared away. You will need to make time for a serious relationship and possibly children in the not too distant future. That will be much easier if you've got your schooling done first.
Yeah, well, I hope children aren't in the too near future haha. I value your input though, being a business owner yourself. I can definitely understand the thought that there's always more opportunities just within arm's reach. I've been feeling like that since starting this project with my current team.
Truth be told, I spend essentially my entire week working for my employer and my entire weekend working for myself. School generally happens around 7:00 or 8:00PM at which point I'd rather be anywhere than sitting in a seat listening to lectures for another two hours. Realistically, I'd probably be much more apt to focusing in class if I went a bit earlier in the day. I may just cut back hours at work and start grinding away at school.
OP is 19. I'd say OP seems to be doing darn good and I'd be proud of him if he were my kid.
Uncross your arms and stop being snarky.
I'm not being snarky, nor did I say he wasn't doing good. He just needs to decide what's more important. It sounds like he's being half-assed about school and would rather work and do his side business.
This may be unpopular to say considering the field of responders so far but...school will always be there too.
Assuming the home business is one that has legs (or the potential of legs) I'd rate it like this:
Business
School
Job
Best of luck with whatever you decide
This is what my end goal would ideally be. Get my business going, use my truckloads of cash to go to college and work towards a doctorate while still having my job as a fallback plan.
Which sounds good on paper... but I've gotta make it happen or it's just a pipe dream.
Quote:
Originally Posted by North Beach Person
The fact that you're asking this indicates that you, yourself, don't have your priorities set. That's what you need to do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by G-fused
OP is 19. I'd say OP seems to be doing darn good and I'd be proud of him if he were my kid.
Uncross your arms and stop being snarky.
G-fused, I appreciate your support, but I didn't really take this too bad. I think priorities is what I need to set, and the problem is that I don't have a lot of real world experience yet to base my priorities on. Some people here have started their own business and almost everyone has already been through deciding between work and school. I was hoping to hear what people did, what people regretted and what people would suggest I do based on their experience. This is valuable input in deciding what my next steps should be.
I did kind of touch on this in my last post.
Quote:
Originally Posted by North Beach Person
I'm not being snarky, nor did I say he wasn't doing good. He just needs to decide what's more important. It sounds like he's being half-assed about school and would rather work and do his side business.
If by half-assed you mean that I'm only taking a few classes instead of being a full time student, absolutely. If by half-assed you mean that I don't take school seriously or I'm giving the impression that I don't try in school, I assure you this is not the case.
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