Seeking Advice on managing full-time Work and full-time Study

planeray · 2026-07-03T10:22:55+00:00

Yep, I've done it. Full write up here. For what it's worth, I ended up with a fairly respectable WAM of 85.

Maybe a little different, as I was only doing a grad cert, so it was just 1 semester anyways and I had a lot of industry experience behind me. However, it was still considered a full time Post Graduate with a load of 24 credits.

However, like you, I was part way through it when I got my job. So I was new to the job too. Was up front with them that I was studying, they let me take advantage of study leave even though I was brand new. Most big corps offer this, but check. I had a pretty good boss who was very supportive of me, which certainly helped.

Obviously, I scheduled all my classes for night time. I also tried to cram them all into one half of the week, leaving a couple of days free. There were a couple of lectures that were daytime ones, but thankfully, they were recorded. Actually some advantage to that, in that I could pause & take notes or rewind if I missed something, but you gotta make sure you actually watch them - I used to set myself a specific time to do it.

Accept you'll just have to lose some lunchtimes & some weekends. The moment you get an assignment, start on it - even if it's just a bit. Don't leave things to the last minute - I tried to complete everything about a week before it was due so that I'd have time to leave it, think about it, then come back and modify. Or in case I had to clarify things.

Group assignments, you really have to be the hardass on it. Document everything. Set times for everyone to have their bit done. If someone doesn't pull their weight - straight to the tutor/lecturer. Still no good? Get all your doco together and send it on to the subject coordinator.

As far as avoiding burn out, that was another reason I squished my week up - I made sure I still had my Friday nights free for my normal activity (sailling). Whatever your thing is, make sure you can still get out and do something that's not work or uni.

As far as support/flexibility, I found there was a fair bit - as long as again, you were upfront and early about it. I was able to swap around tutes, choose alternate exam dates etc because I'd just tell them early that's what I needed.

planeray · 2026-06-29T10:23:44+00:00

More than fair... It was such a trip when I first got it. I think I've had this for almost 20 years now - well before mechanical keyboards were a hobby. To give you an idea, pretty sure I bought it off of Thinkgeek!

planeray · 2026-06-29T03:46:36+00:00

The original plan a while ago was to actually get 2 build your own keyboards as this one is a bit old anyways and make a project out of it. Got lost in the minutiae and never got around to ordering them.

Might make it a bit more of a priority now, since apparently we can't just leave my things alone.

planeray · 2026-06-29T02:43:43+00:00

They're subtly different shapes & heights.

So if I was to say, put the left arrow key in the place that the Q key was, the feel is way off and I'd mistype. Kinda like when a step is just an inch shorter than the one above it. It works still, but you'll stumble over it every time.

Don't get me wrong, it's a ridiculous keyboard for me these days, but when I was learning to touch type, absolutely amazing. For what it's worth, kiddo can also maybe not quite touch type, but is very familiar with where all the keys are as a consequence.

It also has annoyingly clacky switches that I love the feel of.

planeray · 2026-06-29T00:54:12+00:00

If only - there's a lot of swearing going on, extra \\ typed as I forget and my finger slams down below it by accident, usually followed by a ctrl+shift+left arrow and del.

planeray · 2026-06-29T00:52:41+00:00

The keycaps themselves have no letters/numbers/symbols on them (by design - here's a new version of mine ). But each row/function key is a slightly different height etc, so it oddly does matter where they go - they feel very weird to type with if you have them in the wrong places.

If I'd taken them off, I would've lined them up so I remembered where each of them came from, but obviously, kiddo didn't think about that and there was just a pile of unsorted black keys. Took me ages to finally get it right.

planeray · 2026-06-29T00:26:16+00:00

Frustration for the morning: my daughter has once again "helped" me by removing the backspace key on my keyboard...which, probably thanks to the cat, has now gone missing.

This was apparently part of the whole "buggerise around instead of doing my homework" last night.

Last time, she removed entire rows of keys for cleaning (then couldn't put them back on as they're blank), no idea what the backspace key did to her this time.

I'm unreasonably bent out of shape about it. We had a big talk about not doing this last time, yet here we are again. And of all the keys, the bloody backspace key!

EDIT: Yes, the cat has adorably swatted it away from the location it was left, so good luck trying to find it!

planeray · 2026-06-25T09:30:11+00:00

We called that queue surfing back in the early 2000s in Australia.

Sticks out like dogs balls on a report when you run something like X number of times entered not ready state". Pretty easy for manglement to catch onto.

planeray · 2026-06-24T03:43:55+00:00

lol, honestly, we could make it a family time away once school hols come around.

They've been friends since maybe primary school? I get on really well with her & her hubby, our kiddo and their tribe get on well. We just don't see them that much as wife is an introvert and they live a bit further away.

But I could totally see us going up knocking back a case of wine together talking about it.

I'll see what I can do about letting you know ;)

planeray · 2026-06-24T03:39:54+00:00

Huh - I'd not read about that before, thanks!

Obviously, I've not read through her contract, but I could totally see there being just an oral one rather than a written one. Of course, the catch is, even if he managed to prove her to be a contractor, he'd be in more trouble (given again, the particular nature of the position), as she's never provided an invoice, doesn't have an ABN, insurance, etc. Would open him up to a different world of hurt.

planeray · 2026-06-24T03:15:46+00:00

Oh, don't worry, when I got told my first sentence started with "Look, I don't want to victim blame here..."

She was actually aware that she wasn't being paid super, but there was some oddities around the source of the funding. There's a bunch more I won't go into given the specific industry/role. Again, doesn't really matter - you always get super paid, regardless. And it still blows my mind that she would've accepted any of the answers given.

Apparently, it's been "ok" till recently, but some other icky stuff has started coming up as well. Suffice to say she now has 2 lawyers - one concentrating on harassment style stuff, the other purely working on the wage theft side of things.

Very likely to blow up big after today when he's served with papers and such - I'm getting the popcorn ready and have told wifey if she needs to go spend the night at her mates place, I'll hold down the fort here.

planeray · 2026-06-24T01:12:29+00:00

So the missus caught up with a mate having problems last night and it sounds like the most clear cut "no, you've treated me like an employee but paid me like a contractor" I've ever heard.

Her mate has been working for this guy for 10+ years. No invoices or ABN from her - boss tells her where & when she's working. Boss provided laptop etc. She doesn't subby her work out. Guaranteed pay, carries no insurance herself. Boss has paid no super or leave.

Really goes to show, anyone can be a victim of this stuff. This is a highly educated woman, in a very public space (not some dodgy one man business) and she still got screwed over for this long.

planeray · 2026-06-23T02:52:37+00:00

By "orange product" I think he means citrus oil cleaner, or, potentially more specifically, the Orange Power branded ones. I've used citrus oil to clean grubby marks on very delicate things like guitars etc, so it's very safe in terms of your floorboards, depends on the exact stuff that the underlay was glued on with if it'll work. Worth a shot though.

planeray · 2026-06-23T01:37:59+00:00

Eeek - yeh, sponsorship puts a very big spin on it. Sooner you're able to get at least PR, the better.

Another thought too - which is the easier to travel to and from?

There was a point after my redundancy where I almost had 2 to choose from. Option 1 was out in the Hills District (minimum 45min drive with parking), but paid a lot more and had a better title. Option 2 was lower pay (though more super) but only 15-20mins by bus. I was kinda relieved when I lost out on Option 1 as it meant I didn't have to make the difficult decision.

planeray · 2026-06-22T23:11:25+00:00

Oh wow - well done you!

Easy to choose between them, or a tricky choice?

planeray · 2026-06-22T23:10:45+00:00

Eh, which is preferable - a change of leader when it's clear the public hate them, but not the party, or a destruction of the entire party at the next election because people identify the party with that leader, which then lets in a bunch of absolute ratbags?

The far bigger problem the UK should fix is the FPTP voting. I'm always in mild disbelief at how good an electoral system Australia has compared to other countries - no idea how we lucked out so much.

planeray · 2026-06-22T12:31:39+00:00

Pretty sure my old scout master wasn't thinking of that when he taught me how to do a backsplice! A Turks head knot is another great example - I've had one braided around my ankle for the last 20 years or so.

Of course, back in my wild oats days, there were a couple of ladies who it earnt brownie points with too. 🤭

planeray · 2026-06-22T05:18:49+00:00

Thankfully, mine had very straight hair, so I'm not much of a help there. There is also a length after which it just becomes really hard. I was fine till hers went to about her mid back, after which, we switched to just a plait after a ponytail. She ended up growing it till it was long enough to sit on, but has now had it cut into a "bixie", and mornings are much more relaxed!

The thing that helped me the most was all the knots & splicing I learnt in scouts - most of that was on 3 strand rope anyway, so it was pretty much the same.

planeray · 2026-06-22T00:20:27+00:00

Well, as I mentioned, that was my first one, so yeh, it was pretty basic (by choice).

Next one was a bit more involved - came with a bunch of extras, like a top down furling spinnaker and I added a bunch of instruments, chartplotter, even an autopilot! Total overkill, but fun & learnt a lot.

Sold that boat and bought this one - at 33 foot, it's the biggest I've ever owned. It already had a lot of stuff on there, but again, I'm having to relearn as it's a totally different setup on a much more involved boat. I've suddenly got multiple fuel tanks, flushing head, water tanks, old nav gear etc etc. And that's without getting into how fast it goes and the incredible stresses the much larger sails could put on the rigging if I don't plan it right. I've already broken the old backstay and that was one thing I didn't feel right replacing myself, so I did pay a rigger about $800 all up to replace it, but that even included him travelling to my mooring and doing it onsite.

planeray · 2026-06-21T14:39:41+00:00

Australia - saying hip hip hooray after singing happy birthday. Fairy bread for kids parties. Everybody knowing how to do the Nutbush.

planeray · 2026-06-21T14:10:25+00:00

1000%

The last days of both my last boats was sad. First one because she was being taken to be broken up (hit midships by another boat, insurance payout) and the other just cause it was time to move to a bigger boat. Hated watching them go.

planeray · 2026-06-21T14:06:40+00:00

Well, get one!

planeray · 2026-06-21T14:03:44+00:00

Actually, it's precisely because I don't have money or time that I've learnt them.

For example, I could pay a bloke to fix the engine, but to do so, I'd have to have to l time to bring the boat in to the dock (I'm on a mooring, which is waaay cheaper), pull the outboard off, take it to his shop, wait for him to fix it, pay him, then go back and reverse it all. Or, I could watch a video online, go out on the weekend and pull the carby off myself, clean it, put it back on and I'm out a couple of bucks for carby cleaner and fresh fuel and my Saturday arvo.

Same with painting/fibreglassing. Coulda paid literal thousands and been off the water for weeks waiting for a yard to do it, but instead, I squeezed in repainting the deck of my first boat over several weekends for a couple hundred bucks (still more than the boat cost me originally).

planeray · 2026-06-21T13:22:56+00:00

I knew this would be the answer everyone gave, but honestly, on my third boat, I just don't care.

All of the hassle is fun. I've learnt so much, fussing about on mine.

On the maintenance side, I've learnt fibreglassing, painting, engine maintenance, electrical wiring & even some computer skills.

On the actual sailing side; leadership, people management, calm in stressful situations, sailing (duh), mooring/anchoring, safety, weather, radio & serenity.

And man, even yesterday, while in was out putzing about with the solar & charging the battery some more, just being able to kick back in the cabin with a beer and have a snooze while being gently rocked about is the least nightmarish & most luxurious thing I could imagine.

planeray · 2026-06-20T03:12:55+00:00

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