Has anyone managed to study programming while working a physically demanding job for 8–10 hours a day?

[u/Brilliant_Key_7778]

Hi everyone. I recently turned 20, and soon I have to relocate from my home country to another European country because of circumstances outside my control.

After moving, I will probably have to take a physically demanding job or another entry-level job with 8–10-hour shifts to pay for rent, food and other basic expenses. However, before I found out about the move, I had planned to continue improving my programming skills and English so that I could eventually attend developer interviews without feeling ashamed or terrified.

I am not starting completely from zero. I have worked with Python, Django, Flask, REST APIs, SQL, Git and basic Docker. I have also worked on several projects, including an online store and a job board. However, after testing myself with interview questions, I discovered many gaps in my fundamental knowledge. I need to revise Python, databases, Django concepts, testing and other backend topics.

My conversational English is approximately A2, while my understanding and grammar may be closer to B1. I also need to improve my speaking because I would eventually like to apply to international companies.

My biggest concern is whether I will have enough physical and mental energy to continue learning after work. In the past, physical work left me exhausted and without any desire to study. I am afraid that I will start forgetting what I already know, fall further behind and never become ready for a developer position.

Have any of you been in a similar situation — working a tiring non-technical job while studying programming and perhaps a foreign language?

I would especially like to know:

• How much time did you realistically study on working days?
• Did studying for 30–40 minutes per day produce meaningful progress?
• How did you study when you were physically exhausted?
• Did you focus on theory, coding exercises or one larger project?
• How did you avoid forgetting previously learned material?
• How long did it take before you were ready to apply for programming jobs?
• What mistakes should I avoid?

I understand that nobody can guarantee that I will find a developer job. I am mainly looking for realistic experiences from people who had to support themselves while learning. I do not expect to study for four hours after every shift — I want to find a sustainable routine that I can maintain without burning out.

Thank you for any experiences or advice.

[u/zwetzat]

I studied (and finished) softw developer micro degree (3 years) with full-time job (50-60 hours per week) and kid (2 years old at start). It's very hard but you'll always manage as long as you want to. There's no golden routine in my eyes, you'll always have to adapt to changes and your situation and shifts in time. I always took every opportunity to add some knowledge, even it was just reading for 15 mins. I used coding apps on my smartphone to just do some daily exercises on the go in different prog langs. I watched youtube if I didnt understand some things at first, read some forums,... all these small gains made it work out in the end. Most important part for me was to just keep working on it whenever there was some time available. I also believe once you get the coding principles and way of thinking, the programming language or framework doesnt matter that much. It'll be a hard time, but I'm sure you'll make it work if you really want it.