Managing Your Studies with a Full Time Job

CMA. CS. Sanjay Gupta , Last updated: 18 October 2010
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I have been asked many a time by many CCI members and students “How to Manage Your Studies with a Full Time Job?.” I am writing this article to try and remove some doubts associated with “Continuing your studies along with a job”. I am writing this article purely based on my experience and my observations in case of some other peoples.

Some of the disadvantages which we always find are:

1) Very little time to study.

2) Physically demanding.

3) Effect of Mental Stress Associated with Job.

Look, managing your studies with a full time job is difficult, but it is difficult because we think so. In fact I will say doing a full time job helps you in your studies. Now the question is how? Let’s check out.

Advantages of Studying with a full time job:-

1) Security: - Yes it will be most beneficial in your studies. When you are already on a full time job, you will have a sense of security. You don’t have to worry about passing to get a job. Most students put a lot of stress on them by thinking they have to pass to get a job, to start earning their livelihood. When you are employed you don’t have to worry about that part. And this works in your favour, it makes you relax and enjoy your studies. I have seen this happen not only with me, but many others too. So being employed works as boon for you.

2) Value of time: - Since time for studies is very less you will start to give more value (Importance) to time. It is a well known fact that when things are scarce we tends to give it more value, we emphasize more on its proper utilization. Student who is only studying tends to think I have got lots of time and most often do not utilize the time properly. To the contrary when someone studies along with a full time job knows the worth of time and ends up utilizing it lot better.

3) Experience helps: - Practical experience of being in job also helps in your study. When your area of work and area of study are same, your job will be very helpful in your study. Say if you are working in Accounts & Finance department and you are pursuing CA/CWA, you will get lots of benefit from your on job experience. Say if you are looking after direct or indirect taxation you will be better prepared to face taxation exams. When you start studying you will come to know that you already know a lot about the topics of your syllabus because of your job requirement. When you do something practically it stays embedded in your mind for long. So from this perspective also job is helpful in your studies.

4) Enjoyment in study: - Sometimes when you study of hours you can loose enjoyment factor. For doing anything effectively you have to enjoy what you are doing. Because of Job you will get less time to study. So ultimately you will be able to enjoy your studies. Because you study little and study tension free you will able to enjoy and ultimately make your studies more and more effective.

So we can see that Studying along with a job is not that bad and if anything the job helps in our studies instead of hampering it. But ultimately it all boils down to your point of view. Be positive and take it in your stride, it will make a lot of difference.

Some tips for managing your studies along with job:--

1) First and foremost, study to understand the topic and to learn, not only to pass the examination, as if you perceive your study to help you in your future jobs and assignments.

2) Make a habit of studying at least 1-2 hours daily depending on time at your disposal. Even if you study for half an hour make full use of it.

3) Utilize your holidays and leaves properly.

4) Plan how you are going to approach your syllabus. Because of time constraint it might not be possible for you to complete your syllabus. So plan accordingly, which chapters are important and to be completed first. Plan in advance and study accordingly. For planning use scanner and also check current question paper patterns. Proper planning is most essential in cracking professional examination.

5) Make your own notes of what you study. It will help you in revising in short span of time. Self made notes are also easy to understand.

6) When exams are nearing try to increase your study time compared to earlier.

7) Be relaxed and confident as you have managed lots of things in practical field.

8) During examinations be relaxed. Ultimately those 3 hour will matter rather then the time you have spent on your study. Being relaxed will make you do better in examinations.

So just enjoy your studies and your job. Be positive and be successful in life.

Last but not the least I will end this article with a few lines in our beloved language “HINDI”……

“Raah mein kaante ek do nahi hote

raah kaanton se bhari hoti hai

Manzil us raah ki aakhiri chor par khadi hoti hai

Jahan har kadam par milti ek nayi choti hai

Dekh use jinke hounsle dagmagaate hain

Ve manzil ko bhula kaanton mein ulajh jaate hain

Jinki nigaah manzil par hoti hai

Ve kaanton pe hi chalkar manzil ko paate hain”