Engineers who want to advance their careers and gain more knowledge often pursue post-graduate studies. Doing such also provides opportunities for easier promotions, higher salaries, better job prospects and an update of skills.
But taking an advanced degree in engineering requires several adjustments because engineers will have to go back to the classroom. The case is also a lot more difficult when they take a full-time job while working on academics after office hours.
If you are one of those engineers who want to juggle both, how would you be able to balance the two? Here are tips:
Tell your manager about it
There are engineers who keep their master’s degree a secret, which often damages their work productivity. If by any chance your manager is open to the idea about you advancing your career on and off of your job, tell him or her. He or she might even help you promote this continuous learning, allow you for flexible working hours, and give a time off for a study leave, if available.
Work more efficiently
Because you have more on your plate with a master’s degree, you need to manage your time better and leverage your resources to increase productivity and efficiency. You have to skip all the non-important tasks and delegate them so you could have more time for studies. This also requires you to get things done ASAP – by starting immediately, you will finish more tasks.
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Explore study habits
Some make the choice of having a job and taking a master’s degree later in life. If this is the case, the odds are that you already forgot how to ‘study.’ But this is no reason to fret, you only need to explore study habits that fit your present learning curve. Do whatever that is convenient to you – studying in the morning or at night, or in the library or in coffee shops, or with PDFs instead of hardbound.
Make certain sacrifices
Time has a different value when you juggle both being a student and an employee. This means that you will no longer do some activities that you usually do during your spare time, shifting your commitment to graduate studies. Be prepared to spend your weekends learning rather than doing leisure activities.
Source: Top Universities
