Ask HN: What should I do? Help. Something

If you can't go to class for 4 hours a day or whatever, take notes, and do assignments, then how are you going to work for companies that require the degree and want to manage your time for 8 hours a day and give you tasks that might be just as menial? You chose your degree, you get to choose your classes, and for the core requirements, if the school is decent, you at least have the option of waiting to take it with a different teacher if they are that intolerable.

The ability to do tough work that you might not necessarily enjoy but must be done and do that consistently without stopping is exactly the reason companies require them. Of course they also want good talent that will contribute and make them more successful, but a large part of joining a company at first is training on menial tasks, working full time, and working well with others. It doesn't so much require that you have knowledge/skill, just the ability to learn the way the company does things, be absorbed into the culture, and be manageable. This also only gets you the smallest salary in the company, but it at least gets you your foot in the door so you can BE mentored and learn from others, just like you are supposed to be learning from your teachers/peers.

Many talented and driven people don't need that. They can find something that can make money and learn about how to accomplish that all on their own. However, although I am NOT one of those people, I assume that it is a rough road to take by depending solely on this talent. If you can tolerate getting a degree and showing that you can be obedient, you can make it a lot easier on yourself to gain more knowledge, talent, and resources by getting into a company easily. It's a big risk to depend only on yourself, because there is a lot of competition out there.

I was two semesters away from finishing my degree. I quit. As a result I was unable to pursue the job that I had dreamed about as a child (joining the Navy as an officer and flying). I've also been turned down for opportunities, that I was qualified for, simply because I didn't have a degree. It took me years to gain the experience that overshadowed my lack of a degree and it was a long, painful, and difficult road. Please get your degree.

I went through something similar in college.

So I started a side project. I got to work on it only after my school work was done and my job was done. Sometimes that meant staying up a few extra hours.

I think this will pass. 2 Semesters, I'd stay in school and bang that out. Could you take an extra class or 2 this next semester so you have a really easy last semester so you can job hunt or dedicate yourself more to a project you enjoy?

>So I started a side project. I got to work on it only after my school work was done and my job was done. Sometimes that meant staying up a few extra hours.

Side projects are a great way to get yourself out of a rut, and give you something to focus on. If your school requires a senior project then start working on it early and make it something that you can show off when you are looking for jobs next year.

You can also consider taking harder classes that keep your attention. My sister was hating college for a while and then I found out that her hardest class that semester was "The history of the Beatles". Laziness can be a hard rut to get out of, but challenging interesting work will help. If you are feeling lazy then take a few extra credits to keep you going.

That was me one year ago.

I just graduated and I must say - I am really glad I did. It has been frustrating, exhausting and driving me mad for the most part of it.

I was working two jobs and attending the uni at the same time while having a normal relationship - all at the same time. It was getting harder and harder, no free time, no weekends no nothing, no me time. I have felt helpless and I was going to give up twice. The university was boring and I couldn't focus on the stuff we were doing there because it was to easy, and the way we were learning it was... not suitable for me.

Talk with people, it helps. You will feel frustrated for most of it, but I must say - it is really worth it. It is just a year, it would be a shame to lose the previous years. I promised myself that I will do it. And I stuck it out, got my "let's d this" hat on, kept the jobs, finished uni and now doing a gap year before my masters - I need a break. It will pass, talk to your girlfriend, and relax - it seems like an impossible thing to do, but you will be glad once you graduate.

Can you hack together a resilient mindset and positive attitude while grinding out your degree program?

Suggest reading Viktor Frankl's classic Man's Search for Meaning, good food for thought> http://books.google.com/books/about/Man_s_Search_for_Meaning...

Sorry to hear – and yes, it will pass!

Focus on the degree. Two semesters will fly by. In many cases, a degree is just proof on a resume that you were able to stick to a task, and finish the job.

Be upfront with your girlfriend. The current work/school dilemma isn't a permanent situation – it's a means to an end (or a beginning, I guess). Good luck.

I also think that your problem is that you are almost done with the school, you matured and grew indepedent from the institution - you are smart and experienced enough to have your own ideas of doing stuff. And the crisis you are going through is not extraordinary, rather normal. But also a part of being mature is to be able to do things that are not interesing, not nice, and - quite often - not needed.

In the future you will have client's who are idiots, and business partners whom you cannot stand, and tasks that are just repetitive and uninventive. So treat this last few semesters as a good training. Observe your self, see how you react to these obsticles, try work out a strategy of dealing with such hardships. It'll definitely be useful and make you a stronger human being.

You just described my situation to a tee. However, I can't tell you how many times people I talked to said to stay in school. I felt trapped in a bureaucratic mess too and still have a bit of time left until I graduate. The truth of the matter is that without a degree, life is just that much harder nowadays. Sure there are always exceptions but in hindsight they often work much more to get where they are.

I try to occupy my spare time with some side projects and hobbies as well so I don't get burned out. My girlfriend just split up with me and now I have an enormous amount of free time.

Focusing may seem impossible, but if you can distract yourself every now and then you will feel a bigger desire to get things done.

Good luck.

Talk it over with someone who knows you well. I don't think an online forum is this best place for this kind of thing.

How come you can't handle staying only 1 year to get your degree if it's super easy for you? Always get your degree, never leave school, especially so close to the end.

The odds are 99% that, twenty years from now, you'll be glad you stuck it out, as you survey the working room floor from your carpeted office where you make the decisions for those people who acted on their frustration at the slow pace of formal education.

Go to class and do the assignments. And also do the side work and learning that you are enjoying. College students have so much free time and resources available to you, but waste it all on sleeping until noon and spending afternoons playing video games. For intolerably boring lectures, consider doodling. Maybe you can also offer some constructive help in improving the class. If it's a web programming class in PHP, and you think Python would be a good addition, offer to do a 20 minute demo in some upcoming class. I have students do this kind of thing all the time, albeit usually they're after honors credit.

I recommend you marry the girl. A wife civilizes a man. At the very least, she'll get your priorities straightened out, make sure you're eating and sleeping on a normal schedule like a human being, and hold you to finishing the degree.