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Comment by el_benhameen | Hacker News Reader

I’m curious whether anyone here is doing/has done OMSCS with a family in addition to a day job. I would love to do the program, but I’m not sure how realistic it is to take it on with young kids in the house. Does all of your non-work time end up being consumed by coursework?

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I just graduated from OMSCS and have four young kids and a full time job. It took me four years and I made full use of my employer’s generous continuing ed program (50 days/year, introduced about a year after I started) which kept after-hours work to a manageable level. I had to pass on a few good courses due to predicted workload, but made it through a good number of the harder/more rewarding ones and am very happy to have done it. I do not think I would have stuck with it if I was working 40 hours/week and doing the program entirely on my own time.

You can do one class per term, and even skip terms. You can alternate hard classes and easier classes. If you don’t rush, it’s doable.

Source: graduated from omscs last year, with two small kids and a full time job. Took 3.5y though, and I had to skip a couple of hard but interesting classes because they would have been too difficult given the situation (covid lockdowns with kids at home and increased job-related workload)

I did my degree online with a "day" job and young family. My kids were 6 and 3 at the time. But my job wasn't a 9-5 so I didn't have that burden. Also, it got to the point where the day after lectures were posted, which were around 9 pm to midnight, I would get up at 3:30 a.m. to watch a 3 hour lecture.

The old adage "where there is a will there is a way" is definitely true.

OMSCS alumni here. OMSCS is no joke! I underestimated the program and did it in a similar situation. I completed it, but it certainly had a large cost to me personally. You will lose weekends and time with your family - whether it's a massive project you're trying to complete before the deadline, or a hard final exam you need to study for 50 hours to pass.

If you can accept those sacrifices, and your partner is willing to support you (mine wasn't, it turned out), then it's worth considering. I would also strongly suggest treating it like a marathon, not a sprint, and do the 2 courses a year option.

I did in person MSCS with a day job and one kid, about 7 years old at the time. It's doable with a supportive spouse. I spent one or two hours (outside of class) a during the week, and sometimes more during the weekends.

I completed this at one class per semester, except for the semester I attempted two classes to speed up the process. While I was able to complete both classes, I felt the learning suffered as I was just rushing to complete assignments in time instead of really learning the material.

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