I did most of my first MS degree part-time over a few years of my early 20s, while working full-time on pretty intense software development. I was seriously sl

I did most of my first MS degree part-time over a few years of my early 20s, while working full-time on pretty intense software development. I was seriously sleep-deprived at times (for one period, frequently had to dig fingernail painfully into hand during morning class, because was getting microsleeps). And I went from having a great girlfriend, to not having a social life for a long time. I wouldn't recommend this, in most cases. Some ideas: * Make sure you're getting good nutrition, exercise, and sleep. You need your machine working well near-term, and long-term. * Is your office job sedentary? Are you alternating with standing desk, moving around? Is the office job draining because you're using your brain, or because you're not using your brain, or because you're unhappy, or because you're stressed? * Is all your time at the office job productive? Can you reduce the time it takes to do the work, change what the work is, or reduce the time spent on non-work things? * Can you get rid of your commute? Or at least switch it from driving or hectic hopping between buses/subways, to transit where you can focus and read a bit? * Are you getting frequent good interaction with friends & family? It should be energizing, mood-boosting, and supportive. * Can your office job accommodate some of the learning you want to do? (Especially work-related: learn a new tech skill, get a part-time MBA, etc. Or do they do tuition-reimbursement and schedule flexibility during the day for taking college classes?) * Relaxing has value, but are there "relaxing" time sinks that aren't worthwhile, and you'd be happier and better off spending much of that time more productively. Maybe it's too much video games, or too much video streaming, or too much social media (including HN). * Don't over-stress yourself. Powering through stress has long-term costs.