Work + School?

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Hey everyone.
I'm Blake and this year I will be going into year 11.

I want to get a job for the money but I have read so much that for year 11 and 12 you will burn yourself out and I don't know if I should get a job or not...
For almost 2 years I worked at Mcdonalds but that was just about a year ago from now.

I would just go with school only and get a job later on in life after school and all, but I just got my license so I need a car and that car will need petrol (Worse is that my girlfriend lives about 40 minutes away too), I just want to be able to buy lunch every now and then or buy something for me or my girlfriend, go movies, and ya ya ya ya, etc... You get the point, I don't get any money at all from my parents so when it comes to my girlfriends birthday or anytime I will need money I got about 35 cents in my wallet and that is it!

I don't know what to do..
Any help?

Well, if you want a car (including maintenance and petrol), a girlfriend and to do fun stuff then I don't think you really have a choise. With no money from your parents or any other source if income you'll need a job to be able to afford that lifestyle.

I don't know much about the school system in Australia so I have no idea if what you've heard about year 11/12 is true, but I do think that school should be a priority, you'll thank yourself for that later on in life.

Since you've worked at McDonalds for a few years I'd guess you don't have too much trouble with the social aspects involved. Is there no temporary jobs or jobs that can be put on hold for a while if things get busy at school?

I'm all for equality and such so perhaps you could split things 50/50 for the things you do together with your girlfriend? And about the car, do you really, really need it now or could it wait? I mean, it hurts every time I have to go fill up my car lol. Driving is expansive.

Thanks for your response, At the moment I am looking around for some IT related jobs that I would be good at. With paying for stuff with my girlfriend it's kinda like I'll pay for everything tonight, you pay for everything next time, something like that and the car isn't really needed at all, it would be nice though.

If you are tech savvy there's bound to simple job oppurtunities. Where I live we have an organization which helps the elderly/technologically challenged by employing students to help them with IT problems. They keep in mind that the students are in fact students so you can let them know when you will not have the time to work. Maybe there's something similar to that where you live?

I've done lots of looking around and there is nothing like that in which I have found.

Have you talked about this with your parents? Likely most people your age get some money from their parents. Maybe your parents would prefer you focus on school instead of getting a job, and just give the money instead.

I got some money from my grandparents when I had good grades, that might work too

I know they don't have the money for that or they would. I actually know if I got a job I would have to use some of that money to help with bills and all.

I don't know how it is in Australia, but when I was in highschool the minimum wage for my age group was next to nothing, so it didn't seem worth it. (And I didn't have a driving license since you have to be 18 for that here.)

You could take a fulltime summer job, that way it doesn't interfere with school. In my experience that also pays more than the usual highschooler jobs in supermarkets and such.

Well.. When I worked at McDonald's the pay for my age was just about $6.00 but because casual workers get paid a bit more because of the crazy roster and all my pay was boosted to be about $8.00.
To every one I had an extremely bad pay and I remember my co-workers use to say I was child labor or a slave as a joke because of my pay.

I can understand the fear of burnout.

When I was in high school, I did temp jobs with my Grandmother in the summer and only worked a couple times during the school year helping do inventory at the store where my Mom worked. Until my last year. My Grandfather knew I wanted to go to college and bought me a car 6 months before graduation. That's when I started working, because my parents didn't have the money for gas and insurance for me.

It *was* a bit tiring, working all weekend, and a couple evenings, in addition to school. But, as most of my classes that year were hands-on stuff, and not a lot of studying I couldn't do on the bus on the way, I managed alright.

I think getting used to working hard was good for me in the long run. After that, I worked two jobs while going to college, while all of my friends worked part time and relaxed a lot. Well, those same friends are all still working part time and wishing they'd spent more time working and going to school like I had.
The experience working and learning how to deal with people, while learning how to balance priorities is something I am glad I have.

Now, because I was expected to help with the bills, I moved out right after finishing high school. My reasoning is that if I was paying bills, I could have my own rules. I wasn't going to pay bills AND still have to follow all of my parents rules (curfew, when to go to bed, what time to eat, when to do dishes, how often I could wash my hair or do my laundry, etc.).

I got a job at Subway in grade 11 (still work there, and now I'm 2nd year in college). It's a kind of crappy job, but it paid for my car, so I like it. I found it easy enough to balance school and work, and I worked about 5 times a week. I was never one for wasting my time with friends or relationships so I can't say how much a job would affect them.