You could cheat by finding a “friendly” doctor who will give you a doctor’s note for about a month off of work. If your job qualifies under the FMLA. That way you could see what it’s like to be “off” without having to officially quit your job.
Actually companies have opened up in Janaury hiring, I noticed I am getting at least twice as many call backs, (in Illinois at least), so if you’re actually looking and coming up short in the callbacks for interviews, then I’d be more than a little worried about quitting without having another job.
But you should be devoting at least two hours a day (if you work an 8 hour day) to your job search. And on your off day you should be looking for 8 hours, before you can really judge if you’ve been trying “hard enough.”
I know it’s hard with school and all, but you may have to give up something to make this work, school, job or sanity
Give notice. Between now and next Wednesday is four days worth of ten days of notice (2 weeks, 10 working days). Then, once classes start, take long lunches and vacation days. What are they going to do, fire you? You’ve already given notice. And if they do, you won’t be any worse off then you are now.
Live off your savings and student loans, cut your expenses, live like a student and go find a part time job.
Or don’t, keep your job and your income and postpone this for a year.
Why should he wait another year? Is his employer likely to be more accommodating?
While this may seem irresponsible, it is no less respectful of your employer than they are of you, and a lot more honest than trying to claim some kind of medical issue that may fly back in your face.
Which answers your own question there. Your employer is not remotely accommodating to your efforts for education and self-improvement, which is an incredibly dickish thing done in only work cultures that are unhealthy. I wouldn’t worry too much about giving notice (and it sounds that you’re not likely to get a recommendation from this job anyway) so write a memo to HR to insert in your file explaining your extenuating circumstances, pack up your stuff, find a room or studio for let that you can stay in cheaply for a few months, and look for any job that will accommodate your continued education.
As long as you can cover your tuition and are in good health, you’ll be surprised on how little you can live on if you are frugal, and you’ll learn how to find entertainment that is free. It isn’t fun, but it is a temporary situation, and if you keep your eye on the goal, i.e. getting a degree, it’ll pass. And even in a crap economy, if you have actual skills you can find work; it is just a matter of networking and being willing to take a job for lower than you might otherwise accept Let your financial aid office know about their situation; while they may not be able to get you more official aid, they often have discretionary “work-study” funds that are allocated to students who never use the maximum and will be willing to hook you up with some flexible on-campus positions, or will at least free up the funds so you can pitch to professors your ability provide grunt work on their research programs without costing them any budget. I got three different on-campus positions this way before I found a project that had actual funding, and although work-study was technically limited to 16 hours per week I got waivered to work 24 hours per week. That, combined with a weekend construction job and some under-the-table work got me through three years of undergrad.
At worst, you take out some student loans to tide you over until you find a job. I worked very, very hard not to do this, but even if you have to it will ultimately be worth it, both financially and for your own self-respect. Do not let the rat bastard management at a dead-end job and some fucktard of a v.p. who doesn’t understand the first thing about actually managing people keep you from improving your educational and career opportunities.
The part I don’t think is necessarily true with is that you’ll be a whole year behind if you don’t take this class. You could always just continue to take CS and math classes and apply those to the Bioinformatics degree, I would imagine that you can find some that transfer over. Or, you continue as a CS major, take the Bioinformatics next year, and if you like it take a few more classes and do a project for a professor and say you are a CS major with a focus in Bioinformatics. Many schools don’t even have a separate bioinformatics major so I can’t imagine that’s going to make a huge difference in the long run.
I guess my point is that if your plan was to work and continue taking classes at night then I don’t think it’s necessary to change plans because of this one class. If you were on the fence, and were seriously thinking of going to school full time and this is the tipping point, then that’s different. But if ideally what you would like to do is to continue to work full time but also see if you like bioinformatics, then you can read some books and check out some online lectures and revisit the question in a few months.
That said I do totally agree with Dangerosa, if you want to quit just give notice and tell them you’ll be taking a long lunch. Worst case they fire you, but companies don’t say in background checks that they fired you, they’ll just say you worked there until X date.
It sounds like if you want to finish this degree, you won’t be able to stay at this job anyway, so I’d vote for taking this class that you’re really interested in and let the chips fall where they may. If you’re going to be a full-time day student, perhaps you need to start acting like one - take a student job that offers flexible hours, and take in a boarder or two.
If I read this correctly, you’re saying that if you quit, you can get unemployment??? Doesn’t usually work that way: if you leave voluntarily, no unemployment.
Or did you mean “if they fire you you could get unemployment and THAT would be great”?
Depending on where you live, that’s also a way to prevent unemployment from happening.
Is there any chance the job might allow you to take a leave of absence (unpaid)?
This is what I may end up doing. I think can ride the line between majors and stretch it out for at least another year. That may be my best course of action.
Only problem is, this strategy would require me to revamp my schedule for this semester, and most of the classes are already full. The ones that aren’t are taught by professors with heavy accents and are rated very poorly on ratemyprofessors.com.
[QUOTE=Mama Zappa]
If I read this correctly, you’re saying that if you quit, you can get unemployment??? Doesn’t usually work that way: if you leave voluntarily, no unemployment.
Or did you mean “if they fire you you could get unemployment and THAT would be great”?
Depending on where you live, that’s also a way to prevent unemployment from happening.
Is there any chance the job might allow you to take a leave of absence (unpaid)?
[/QUOTE]
What I meant is it would be great if they would fire me. That way, I could collect unemployment.
They wouldn’t give me a leave of absence. I don’t even need to ask to know that.
Don’t quit, don’t give notice. Just use vacation/sick leave and start going to your class. Work early in the morning and late in the evening to make up missed work. If they fire you, then you can get unemployment.
This is your one chance, and you have to take a risk. You may have to struggle through some rough times, but in the end it will be worth it.
The fact that they are paying for her tuition seems to be going largely unacknowledged. Working your way through school on a part time job is becoming less and less feasible as the years progress. Even full time jobbers may have to take out loans if the job doesn’t pay well.
I think you need to take a couple steps back and ask yourself some questions. Are you sure you aren’t just trying to justify leaving your current job? Plan for the worst case scenario. What happens if you lose this job, can’t find another, and have lost your tuition reimbursement to boot? You won’t have school or a job, what do you have to fall back on? You said your parents wouldn’t let you move back in… would you be homeless? How many student loans can you take out? Did you file a FAFSA last year? Is it too close to the semester to apply for aid at your school?
Some people seem fond of saying “just go for it! things will work out!” Well, things working out is only one possible solution. There are many possibilities, not all of them good. The fact that the current economic climate is shit and that employers are simply NOT HIRING ANYBODY is a big, big, BIG reason not to quit. Hell, people with college degrees can’t even get a job at pizza hut right now in a LOT of places, what makes you think you’re any better on paper than they? Quitting a job also makes you ineligible for certain types of govt aid (like food stamps) for at least a few months, depending on what state you live in.
I am willing to be the grinch in this thread and say, you are NOT thinking this through. You are acting on what appears to me to be a scarily random impulse, and you’re on track to make a decision you will regret for the next decade–at least. Do whatever you need to do to keep your current job and keep taking classes. You’re employed full time, classes and education are important but they are secondary to survival. Income is the key component to survival. Don’t throw that away without a backup plan.
I’m surprised this hasn’t gotten more attention. If you quit, how do you plan to pay for school? I’m sure the answer is “loans” but how fast does this need to go into play? If you quit before/just barely into this semester, is your employer still on the hook for this semester’s tuition?
The biggest objection I have seen you express is that you won’t be able to work for these guys (their system? Network?) ever again.
I think you gotta break a few eggs to make an omlette. This doesn’t sound like an organization you’ll want to work for anyway- look how they treat their people! You can go work for the competition later. (you know better how that will work out of course)
You still have the options of moving someplace cheaper, taking still more loans, and taking some other job, any job. To me it sounds like you have a struggle and some hard choices ahead, but not an insurmountable obstacle. Be brave, take the chance on yourself to get into a field you are happy with.
I think quitting the job in hand would be a mistake in this economy. You don’t need those classes to live. You do need a job. You wouldn’t be “taking a chance on yourself,” you’d just be losing an income. You can wait another year to take the classes. Quitting your job right now would be high risk for basically no potential reward. You might get another job, you might not, but the classes aren’t going to support you.
I respect your point of view, Dio. Agent Foxtrot will want to weigh all sides of this.
It just seems like staying in the current job is kind of a dead end, a subsistence existence (which beats being homeless, yes…)
Compare with taking Bioinformatics. That sounds like goal-oriented behavior to me. This is something this guy wants to do with his life, and here is a chance to get there sooner rather than later. Making the moves toward this involves some risks, but since there are AFAIK more student loans available, one of the risks isn’t being forced into a career in dumpster diving.
I suppose I am pretty confident that there is some kind of job out there, and also cheaper housing if it comes down to it. Maybe it isn’t really like that.
It’s taken a lot of deliberation and sleepless nights, but I’ve decided that unless I miraculously get a job offer today, I’m going to stick with my job for this semester. I haven’t received a single call other than from Aflac or other companies wanting to hire me as an insurance salesman.
I’m very angry with my bosses and feel like I’ve been bent over a barrel (especially since I learned that someone else in my department is getting time off for school), but that’s life and there’s nothing I can do about it other than snatch up the first realistic offer that comes my way.
It pains me greatly to make this decision, but if it’s taught me anything, it’s that there’s a limit to the sacrifices one can prudently make in the pursuit of education.