Going to university in your 30s (And loving it!)

Why Study as an adult?

Studying as an adult is such a rewarding undertaking that I would recommend for everyone. Whether you choose to go back to school, do one day workshops or online courses, learning is one of the best ways to spend your free time in my opinion.

When I was in school, to say I was distracted would be an understatement.. I could barely focus on anything complicated and would put things off until the day before they were due. I only just scraped through my last year in high school and it was mainly because I spent so much time in the engineering workshop getting NCEA credits. Working with my hands was what I loved doing, building, creating and especially working on cars gave me so much joy at that age, that I was reluctant to put in the time to learn the fundamentals beneath it, you know, the math that makes it all work.

I traded my dreams of becoming a mechanical engineer for becoming an automotive engineer, I wanted to work on the fastest cars and race my own. I joined the NZ Army as a heavy diesel mechanic and got certified, but seven years later something was missing. During this time I had dabbled in some Psychology papers out of curiosity, but never done a full undertaking of tertiary study and I just felt this pull to get into it and learn more.

After trading spanners for a keyboard (you can read about my career transition here) and realising that a lot of the tertiary coursing I wanted to do required a bachelors, I finally decided to just get it done. I was in Montreal of all places at the time and I said to my partner, “You know what, I’m just going to do it” and signed up that night for a bachelors of information science, majoring in software engineering and minoring in mathematics (I would love to see my old high school math teaches and be able to tell them how much I’m loving learning more advanced math now).

I’ve now completed my first year of my three year degree doing 2 papers a semester over 2 years and it’s amazing to see just how much I’ve changed. Now that I no longer have the distractions I used to have, or the social pressure I just feel free to put all I have into learning, studying at the early hours when my mind feels sharp and just wanting more and more. I’m not the only one here either, I’ve talked to lots of people who as adults started their bachelors or masters degrees and for a lot of people it seems to be similar that as adults the process of formal learning is just way more enjoyable. Maybe it’s because we have choice now and it’s not mandatory, who knows.

Time Commitment

A question I’m often asked is “How do you manage your time working full time and studying part time?”. My way of studying works for me, but I don’t have kids or any other major commitments aside from gym and work so this might not work for everyone, but I get up really early.

I am a morning person. How much of a morning person? A 3:00 AM latest wake up kind of morning person, which means a 7:00 PM bed time but I love the morning so much more than the evening. The stillness and darkness of the air outside, just pure silence. Combine that with watching the sunrise after already feeling accomplished and you’re on your way to my kind of bliss. So, my typical schedule goes something like this.

3:00 AM - 3:15 AM: Wake up, do morning stuff, coffee ☕️ 🤤

3:15 AM - 4:30 AM: Study 📚

4:30 AM - 7:15 AM: Gym 🏋

7:30 AM - 3:30 PM: Work 👨‍💻

3:30 PM - 7:30 PM: Whatever I feel like 😎

Recently, as I am working async hours and my partner is working US east coast hours it has been more like start the process at 12:00 AM and go to bed at 4:00 PM, but still, the time allocation is roughly the same.

So, as you can see I don’t put in 20 hours a week studying as is recommended, and for me its usually around 10. Aside from some particularly tricky assignments I just haven’t needed to. As a continued learner I know that as long as I put in a little bit every single day and make sure I don’t gloss over information I don’t understand, that I’ll be learning the content and be able to apply it in practice when I need it.

What should you study?

I chose to study computer science because I love it, it’s something I just absolutely love learning about. I’d say most people will pick their tertiary study based on the field they work in, but it’s definitely not a requirement. My partner Allison just completed her masters in Applied Neuroscience and she is a UI/UX designer, she finds ways to apply what she learnt to her career because she is passionate about it. You should choose to study something you’re passionate about and if it’s not directly related to what you do for work, find ways to make it related and it will be that much better.

Wrapping up

To kind of sum this all up. Learning as an adult is one of the most enjoyable undertakings of my life. I am learning things I didn’t even know I should learn, and loving it. Sometimes it’s hard and I think I’ll never understand the topic, but that’s the best part, doing a little bit each day means that I am constantly pushing past these little self imposed boundaries and getting formal recognition for it is the best part.

Our brains are designed to learn, to absorb new information and make connections to what we already know, so, help yourself stay sharp and always keep learning.

Thanks for reading, and good luck!