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It's been a hard day at work, you've fought with traffic to get home and all you want to do is kick back in front of the television or head into town to let your hair down, but you can't. Not for the next two years at least.
From here on in, the cable' s cancelled, there's no me time and time management is your only mantra. Joining a growing number of men in the region, you've chosen to study while you work in a bid to further your career prospects. Juggling kids, your relationship, a full-time job and now an online university course seems like torture, but is it all worth it in the end?
"If you originally came to the GCC to chase a fast buck without much in the way of previous experience or qualification, your career is likely to hit a stumbling block, and soon," warns Vikram Tah, regional managing director of online executive education provider U21 Global.
With the implication that Dubai is starting to outgrow its initial batch of white-collared workers, Vikram highlights the necessity to get ahead of a new wave of competition about to flood the office.
"Most men are finding their Bachelor's degree will only get them so far. They left university, moved abroad, got married, settled down, had kids and never really got round to sitting for a post-graduate course."
The solution he provides is easy. Without taking time out of your career and heading back to a brick-and-mortar campus, you can instead switch on your laptop, enrol on a course from one of 17 accredited universities worldwide and then invest just eight-10 hours a week to online study. You can do it from a beach, hotel, airport or even at your desk during lunch.
Within two to three years you'll be ahead of the pack once more with an MBA, diploma or equivalent. The learning is flexible to fit your lifestyle; you can implement and integrate it into the workplace the very next day and while you're sound asleep in Sharjah, an online classmate in Sydney could be contributing to a thread you left on the message boards concerning any doubts you have over course work.
Fellow cohorts usually range from between ages 32-45 and each carry with them no less than eight-nine years experience in the field, which means you'll have the brains of seasoned professionals at your disposal, and an insight into how their companies function too. The whole set-up exposes you to alternative ways of thinking.
For its convenience, flexibility and professional advantages, it is a route that over 5000 mature students from over 65 countries have taken since U21 Global launched in 2003, and this is only one example of thousands of virtual institutions offering to widen your horizons in the workplace.
But are such courses all they're cracked up to be and should you study while you work? Harry Goodson-Wickes,30, is a real estate agent in Muscat, Oman. He's striving to become a chartered surveyor online through the College of Estate Management, based in Reading, England. Once he completes his two-year course he'll not only become a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, but he'll also rise up the pay bracket as he turns more toward becoming a valuation and property professional, as opposed to your everyday agent.
The outcome is important, as he and his fiancée Nicola look forward to settling down together and eventually starting a family perhaps back home in the UK. But Harry's ambition to educate himself at the same time as working a busy schedule chaperoning clients, has at times put its strain on his relationship with Nicola.
Now resigned to Harry's workaholic ways when all around her bask in expatriate bliss, Nicola is still desperate to turn the TV back on, perhaps play some music loud, hit the pool or even go out of an evening.
"I'm very proud of Harry and can see it requires a fair amount of self-discipline to come home after work and get straight into study, but I can't wait to go out and have some fun. In two years I've had the opportunity to read plenty of books and improve my cooking, but now I'd really like some quality time with my fiancé."
There's a light at the end of the tunnel for them both, Harry only has one more piece of coursework before his final exams. But it means he's spent the whole of his Eid holidays revising.
"I just hold out that the niggling discomfort we're going through together now will be all worth it in the long run. In hindsight, it is an ideal time to do it. While in the GCC I'm away from my core group of friends and oblivious to the usual distractions of home. I'm gaining foreign experience and using my spell in Oman as downtime to study while working," he says.
Having been offered the opportunity to do a dissertation in order to attain an MBA in his course, Harry has politely declined. He can no longer face the onslaught of another six months of work and study. His lasting advice is to never underestimate the workload and to take the 'ease of learning' claims from institutions marketing their course with a pinch of salt.
"I haven't been able to read anything in the past two years that hasn't got something to do with my course, I can't even pick up a newspaper unless there's a useful article, otherwise it's deemed time wasting. It's that intensive. I can imagine others quitting," says Harry.
Imran Vohra, 35, got a promotion within the Dubai offices of his IT company after completing a gruelling three year MBA executive course through U21 Global. It complemented an earlier undergraduate degree in engineering from Mumbai.
"The competition in the workplace was growing and I had to equip myself to pull more in line with the global environment. It wasn't feasible to take time out to go back to university, so online study was my only alternative," he said.
At times he struggled with the lack of face-to-face contact and was often flummoxed by the style of what he calls pulling to learn, rather than being pushed – as in conventional universities. The pressure was invisible and easy to ignore without swathes of motivation and family support.
It took a lot of time for him to get used to the lack of a social life and it was frustrating being always preoccupied with his academic life, but with the turmoil now finally over, he can at last see that he achieved a lot from the whole experience.
That's something Chicco Heranandai, 27, who's aiming for an MBA, will take a lot of heart from. At the moment he's a business development manager with entrepreneurial ambitions and dreams. He's a long way off seeing a return to his investment just yet, but holds out that adding to his IT Bachelors degree with a business specialisation can only enhance his CV.
Chicco admits that the region is developing fast with a real need for employees like him to follow suit by keeping qualifications as diverse as they are up-to-date – especially amid the current economic downturn.
Therefore, with competition only intensifying, studying while working might just have to become a necessary evil for the many men who once came here only for the money and the good life.
10 ways to ace your course
- Write down your reasons for doing the course and revert to the list every time your motivation falters.
- Find the course that's right for you from the accredited university that holds most credibility.
- Research the others involved in the course, and gauge the credentials of other online students to see how their previous experiences will help you. But make sure you have the correct experience to be able to contribute too.
- Don't drop physical exercise, it helps focus the mind.
- Ensure you have the full support of your family, friends and boss before committing yourself to the course.
- Do as much research on time management as you can and learn how to break down big tasks.
- Don't leave anything to the last minute and stay on top of online discussion boards and deadlines.
- Have clear cut-off times. Don't mix work and study. Come home and turn your phone off to get into study mode.
- Eat a balanced, healthy diet, otherwise if you're sloppy with your meals, you will be half-hearted in your approach to work and study too.
- Don't get ahead of yourself. It may be tempting to fast-track yourself through a course in a year but underestimating the workload will lead to disaster, there's no harm in pacing yourself out.
To find a course suitable for you go to www.u21global.com
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