Waterloo CS students...is having a part-time job manageable given the workload?

[civ@uw]

I kind of need the money, but I don't want to sacrifice my marks too much. My timetable looks pretty sparse for the upcoming term, but I'm not sure if I'm being deceived into thinking I could pull it off. I have the following courses for the upcoming term:

Math 135
Math 239
Stat 230
Econ 102
CS 134
(I'm transferring from another faculty if you're wondering why my course selection is a bit unorthodox)

How much out of class time do those courses require? Also, how competitive is it to get an on-campus job?

[konfusion666]

if by part-time job you mean... working 5-6 hours a week at the Turnkey desk ... then I suppose you could pull it off. but if you are sacrificing more than 5-6 hours per week away from your coursework... you'll regret it.

[winner2000]

Well you look like you're in first year, so you can probably manage about 10-15 hours per week.

As for competitiveness of on-campus jobs...it's pretty tight, so good luck.

[civ@uw]

I was thinking maybe around 10 hours, so that would be around 2-3 hours a day. I have certain unproductive hours that I can't get through any homework, so maybe it would better to put that time towards a job instead.

What places on campus hire? I'm aware of Campus Rec, and Food Services. ANy others?

[Nyte]

Well you look like you're in first year, so you can probably manage about 10-15 hours per week.

As for competitiveness of on-campus jobs...it's pretty tight, so good luck.

Actually, judging by his name, I would guess he transferred from civil engineering into computer science, or at least some program in the math faculty.

As for the actual question of whether you can pull off having a part time job, the short answer is definitely.

The longer answer is that is really depends on you. How good are you in math? How much time do you normally need to study to get the marks you do (or want)? How's your life outside of school, and how much time are you devoting to that?

Your "sparse" timetable is likely from an absence of labs, so you will have a lot less work in that sense. But you might find the material more difficult in the longer term; the courses you have listed aren't hard, except Math 135, depending on your background.

[konfusion666]

The longer answer is that is really depends on you. How good are you in math? How much time do you normally need to study to get the marks you do (or want)? How's your life outside of school, and how much time are you devoting to that?

6-8 hours per week tops for the "average mathie", in my opinion, which means he is cutting out 6-8 hours of: TV watching, videogame playing, socializing with buddies, time spent at the Bomber or wherever you kids drink now , etc.

of course, for me, I spent far more than 6-8 hours doing the activities listed above in 1A and 1B but that's another story...

[UrbanPoet]

it depends how good you can manage your time.....

[danfromwaterloo]

By the time fourth year rolls around, the thread title will read:

"Waterloo CS students...is sleeping manageable given the workload?"

[Nyte]

6-8 hours per week tops for the "average mathie", in my opinion, which means he is cutting out 6-8 hours of: TV watching, videogame playing, socializing with buddies, time spent at the Bomber or wherever you kids drink now , etc.

of course, for me, I spent far more than 6-8 hours doing the activities listed above in 1A and 1B but that's another story...

Actually, with the way my schedule is most terms, if I was to cut out all of those things listed (+other leisure activities), I wouldn't have much of a problem squeezing in a full time job with flexible hours (assuming I also stop slacking off). Though life would suck then of course.

[drucillica]

I kind of need the money, but I don't want to sacrifice my marks too much. My timetable looks pretty sparse for the upcoming term, but I'm not sure if I'm being deceived into thinking I could pull it off. I have the following courses for the upcoming term:

Math 135
Math 239
Stat 230
Econ 102
CS 134
(I'm transferring from another faculty if you're wondering why my course selection is a bit unorthodox)

How much out of class time do those courses require? Also, how competitive is it to get an on-campus job?

well lets see, math 135 is pretty easy, but has weekly assignments, so you have to stay on top of it.

math 239 could be pretty hard to wrap your mind around if you have a bad prof. Again, weekly assignments.
stat230 - i think it has like 5 quizzes or something + final, although that might have changed.

econ102 should be a write-off. just study for midterm/final and you should be ok.. there wasn't any assignments when i took it

cs134 is not terribly difficult, but it does has its fair number of assignments. If you've had previous coding experience and know your data structures, it should be a fairly easy course.

I would suggest taking econ102 distance ed while you're on campus. That way you don't have to go to class and can study during your part time job when you have downtime (this is pretty tolerated with a on-campus job).

Good luck.

[konfusion666]

Actually, with the way my schedule is most terms, if I was to cut out all of those things listed (+other leisure activities)

so did you also have a pitcher of beer before attending one of D'Alessio's calculus lectures? or was that just me?

[Nyte]

so did you also have a pitcher of beer before attending one of D'Alessio's calculus lectures? or was that just me?

That was just you, hehe.

[Dota]

are you smart?

[civ@uw]

Actually I'm going to be in 2A in the upcoming term, so I've already learned from my first year mistakes

cs134 is not terribly difficult, but it does has its fair number of assignments. If you've had previous coding experience and know your data structures, it should be a fairly easy course.

Is 134 much of a step up in difficulty from 133? I didn't take 133, but from what I've done of the 133 assignments it seems to be pretty easy. I don't really do any hobby programming either....Do you know how long the 134 assignments usually take? Also, the 134 stuff will be brand new material while 133 is mostly review.

The math courses I don't think will be too much trouble. I thought the engineering math courses were pretty easy (115, 116, 118) but things could be different taking math math courses.

Thanks for all the responses

[drucillica]

Actually I'm going to be in 2A in the upcoming term, so I've already learned from my first year mistakes



Is 134 much of a step up in difficulty from 133? I didn't take 133, but from what I've done of the 133 assignments it seems to be pretty easy. I don't really do any hobby programming either....Do you know how long the 134 assignments usually take? Also, the 134 stuff will be brand new material while 133 is mostly review.

The math courses I don't think will be too much trouble. I thought the engineering math courses were pretty easy (115, 116, 118) but things could be different taking math math courses.

Thanks for all the responses

cs133 concentrates on teaching you how to program. cs134 delves into data structures, introduces algorithms (searching, sorting etc) and asymptotic analysis. I think there was a part on induction and inductive proofs. The course might have changed a bit though - I took it in 2002, but the core material should stay the same.

As for the assignments, well it depends how fast you can grasp the concepts. I remember the discrete event simulation assignment taking pretty long, but not sure about others. I believe that some are group assignments too, half written and half programming.

and for the math courses - some of the stuff in cs135 is really weird when you first start out but it ended up being a pretty interesting course. cs239 is broken into 2 completely independent halves, graph theory being an "easier" half. First half is kinda hard to grasp, but one day it just clicks and you get it (at least that's how it was with a lot of people..). our 239 prof was awesome - the class would be completely full with people sitting on steps or standing but it was worth it. Avoid profs like Goulden.

I hated stats230 - it might have been the most boring class ever and we got completely murdered on the final (approx 45% class average). I think that course is pretty hit & miss as the next term i heard it was completely easy.

I don't know how our math compared to eng math, but i'd imagine you guys had more emphasis on problem solving, which isn't the case in the math faculty. All i can say is that math in the math faculty is not easy, so be prepared.