Going from Student to Full time Job... How did you cope?

Diagro · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:19

hey

I have been at Uni for the past 5 years, i finish on the 16th of april with two exams in may.

I start a job in April or may (date is yet to be sorted)

Its around 50hr per week, and it will involve A LOT of driving from site to site.
(get a company car though)

I don't mind driving or having to work, But its going from doing Uni work at home all day to a full time job that i am crapping my self about.

I am not very good with Time management, when i make plans i rarely am able to meet the time frames for them due to things getting in the way.

Anyone else been in this situation? How did you cope?

Any advice please

cm1179 · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:21

welcome to the real world

those lie ins until 11am are now a distant memory

Diagro · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:22

cm1179 said:
welcome to the real world

those lie ins until 11am are now a distant memory

if only i could say i was entitled to them, I drive the missus to work each day then onto uni.

Theophany · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:23

I found that payslips really helped ease me into it.

Veco · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:24

Yup, first job after uni makes for an interesting first year. Be prepared to be shattered half the time and stupidly busy the other half.

I'm a year and a half into my first job now. It certainly gets a lot easier with time, try to get into a routine and optimise your mornings (but don't rush). Try to include a walk at lunch, or sports after work. Cooking on the weekend in batch is a good idea too so you can eat healthily midweek and only have to wait for it to warm up/do rice/pasta.

Liquiduk · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:25

Theophany said:
I found that payslips really helped ease me into it.

Was what made the transition painless for me

Diagro · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:26

Veco said:
Yup, first job after uni makes for an interesting first year. Be prepared to be shattered half the time and stupidly busy the other half.

I'm a year and a half into my first job now. It certainly gets a lot easier with time, try to get into a routine and optimise your mornings (but don't rush). Try to include a walk at lunch, or sports after work. Cooking on the weekend in batch is a good idea too so you can eat healthily midweek and only have to wait for it to warm up/do rice/pasta.

Wont need to worry about walking, The job will include Several miles of that per day haha

Haggisman · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:29

Am I the only one who didn't find it particularly hard/any big deal?

Diagro · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:32

I have a feeling it all depends on what it is that the first job is... I think i am mainly worried about the whole driving thing and the base being an hour away and an hour from each site :/
I love driving though

AndyT · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:33

Haggisman said:
Am I the only one who didn't find it particularly hard/any big deal?

I was thinking this myself. Reminded me of this:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18474739

It's not that difficult, I don't think you have to worry. Seemingly the most difficult thing for new graduates these days to grasp is that they don't know everything and aren't cleverer than everyone else.

Lima · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:35

50 Hours a week + long commutes? Seems like strange full time hours straight out of uni. Is that your standard contract hours or is it 40 hours plus some sort of compulsory overtime?

Out of curiosity what is your new job?

Good luck, you're going to need it. You will learn to drink tea and coffee like a pro in order to keep going through the day

Tbid · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:39

I'll be going from 2 years of full time employment in some fairly varied work environments back into full time education, I made a bit of a hash up when I was last in education, hopefully I'll be better this time round.

In my first job I worked for a car trader, straight out of sixth form. If you just go out there and do it you won't have any problems what so ever. I had to do lots of long distance driving, usually many hundreds of miles, day after day, all the worry in your mind will dissipate. I'd imagine it's being out of your usual comfort zone that is causing you this worry.

Diagro · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:42

Lima said:
50 Hours a week + long commutes? Seems like strange full time hours straight out of uni. Is that your standard contract hours or is it 40 hours plus some sort of compulsory overtime?

Out of curiosity what is your new job?

Good luck, you're going to need it. You will learn to drink tea and coffee like a pro in order to keep going through the day

Its Approx 50 hours a week, been told i may end up going over to get what i need to do done.
I will be a Solar park maintenance manager.
Works out at around £17 an hour and costs of commutes will be covered.

Amos91 · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:44

I went for nice Uni lie ins to up at 6.20am. It wasn't that bad, had some odd eye twitching when I was tired but I soon got used to it.

Would do Uni again in a flash though rather than the real world stuff

tom_e · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:49

olivercamos said:
I went for nice Uni lie ins to up at 6.20am. It wasn't that bad, had some odd eye twitching when I was tired but I soon got used to it.

Would do Uni again in a flash though rather than the real world stuff

Same here, 9 months on and I still hate it!

Devrij · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:52

Diagro said:
Its Approx 50 hours a week, been told i may end up going over to get what i need to do done.
I will be a Solar park maintenance manager.
Works out at around £17 an hour and costs of commutes will be covered.

You'll be tired. Very tired, but to be fair I leave the house at 7AM and get home 12 hours later, and if I can do it you can (I'm extremely lazy).

It'll be a bit of a shock, but when you get those sweet sweet payslips coming in the door it'll be worthwhile.

Like the others said: get a routine, optimise your morning routine so it's predictable (it shouldn't involve the PC unless you set an alarm to remind you to leave). Get to bed early (get your missus to cook for you so you can eat when you get in). Then use your weekends wisely. You can take a holiday when you need to sleep, your weekends will be the island of hope in the exhausting monotony of your weekly job, so do stuff with your gf to prevent her feeling like your maid.

No1newts · 12 Mar 2013 at 12:52

You said you're useless at it by I really suggest working on your time management and organisational skills. It's hard enough as it is but without those tools you will be ******

I went into my first year of employment without the above and it was a nightmare, nailed on now but it's a massive benefit if you can have it from day one.

What are you doing if you don't mine me asking?

Oh I just saw job title, what does it entail?

Diagro · 12 Mar 2013 at 13:10

No1newts said:
What are you doing if you don't mine me asking?

Oh I just saw job title, what does it entail?

Going to each solar park, Checking Various settings and values, Repairing any hardware that fails.. Walking the park for any broken panels and replacing any.. Amongst other stuff.

Not really a job you can find someone for, But i am interested in solar tech

Amp34 · 12 Mar 2013 at 13:18

Significantly more money, less stress and the ability to just forget about work at half 5. Easy

Diagro said:
I have a feeling it all depends on what it is that the first job is... I think i am mainly worried about the whole driving thing and the base being an hour away and an hour from each site :/
I love driving though

And what subject you did at uni. English or psychology with 6hours a week or a science/engineering with up to 40+.

Devrij · 12 Mar 2013 at 13:19

Diagro said:
Going to each solar park, Checking Various settings and values, Repairing any hardware that fails.. Walking the park for any broken panels and replacing any.. Amongst other stuff.

Not really a job you can find someone for, But i am interested in solar tech

In terms of your organisation, which I struggled with in my current job (107 newspapers, each with deadlines, and a phone that won't stop ringing!), I would suggest coming up with a digital solution that you can quickly refer to on the go. What mobile OS do you have? There are lots of organisation apps out there to help you manage your time. Something you can quickly add notes/tasks to and view your day would help you to no end by the sound of it.