I'm stuck

[erkishhorde]

I was happy to be a part of the first class in the new master's program for Architectural Engineering at Cal Poly. The classes were pretty tough for me but I squeaked my way through. I didn't like my advisor or my project and made a bit of progress but never finished. I thought I'd work on it and be able to finish before I started working. Freedom got the better of me and I ended up relaxing for my month between school and work instead of working on my thesis.  As always happens I didn't have much time to work on it once I started working and took what small amount of free time I had to relax and regain some semblance of sanity.

Now, after only 4.5 months of working I'm very disgruntled with my boss. I've also got a very heavy work load that doesn't really allow me to take any time off without making it up somewhere else. I've also been contacted by my advisor saying that he's planning on finishing the project if I don't which will make it nearly impossible for me to finish my thesis and get my degree.

I've quit so many projects that I've started and never finished. I feel like I will never stop giving up on things unless I take a stand. I've got a bit of money in a CD account that I can pull out early and live off of while I work but I'm a bit worried about finding a job again if I quit to work on my thesis even though I am thoroughly disgruntled with my boss and was feeling like I wanted to quit anyway (resume is all set up and I was just getting ready to send out applications). I don't feel that I can work part time witht his company while I finish my thesis either. Knowing the weight of the work load that isn't getting done will stress me too much.

Either way it feels like I'm running away from something be it my thesis or my jackass boss. I think I'm going to have to quit and take care of #1.

[TiNi]

sounds to me you already know what to do

i think it's best to finish what you started,
you will feel really awesome after you get our degree,
and will be able to to get a better job with the addition on that resume 

keep your chin up, and get busy 

[Timmy Tucker]

+1.

Finish your degree.

[swampduc]

+2 finish up. It'll be way harder to go back to school in a few yrs; look how hard it is to go back after a few months. Good luck!

[Grampa]

do you write out your goals?

[somegirl]

Education is a great investment, I also vote for finishing the degree. 

It might be tough now, but when you look back in a few years, would you rather have finished your degree, or would you be glad that you stayed in a stressful job?

Best of luck to you.

[Drunken Monkey]

Do you envision your chosen career becoming increasingly important to the world and better yet becoming increasingly lucrative for the next decade?

No?

Then finish your degree 

Seriously, the only people I know that don't feel bad about not getting their degree are fellow software engineers who dropped out in the '80s to be part of the computer "boom" of the last 20 years.

[redxblack]

leaving school behind sure won't make the job more rewarding.

here's another for finishing the degree (and some empathy for slacking a little - i know how you feel).

[Popeye the Sailor]

*Ahem*



make the beast with two backs work.


That is all.

[Langanobob]

This doesn't have much in it relating to finishing your thesis, but years ago I had a real jerk for a boss.  One day he made a negative comment about something I was doing and I had just plain had enough.  I didn't even give notice - at lunchtime I packed up my stuff, left a note that I was outa there and left.   At the time I think I had  a months rent paid and $300 cash.  Before the rent and money ran out I had a new job that led to a new career and literally a new life.   Walking out on that job never hurt my resume or career a bit and I think it may  have actually helped.  It seems like if a situation is so bad that you have to take immediate action, many people understand, don't hold it against you and actually respect you for it.

Sometimes I think you just have to step out into the unknown.  If I were in your shoes now I would finish that thesis.  If you had a real job at a real company they would allow you time to finish it.  The economy may be sucking right now, but there are still new and better jobs out there.  You have a long career and jobs  get easier to find as time goes on, but as you know you  only  have the immediate future to finish your thesis.

I'm a Cal Poly grad too, and I have a story about that.  Don't know how it relates to your situation and it probably doesn't.  I applied to Cal Poly because I liked the campus, the area, beach, coast and the town seemed OK.  After I got accepted I found out that at that time, maybe it still is, Cal Poly was one of the 10 hardest schools in the USA  to get accepted at.   If I'd known that before I applied I never would have even bothered to apply.