Working on the side

[Guest67]

Does anyone know it if it's okay to work on the side?
I'm a programmer and would want to do web development on the side after finishing work at the SF for the day.

[DifferentGuest]

Does anyone know it if it's okay to work on the side?
I'm a programmer and would want to do web development on the side after finishing work at the SF for the day.

Not sure where you are in the program...

During the semester: SMART limits you to 16 hr/wk of paid work total. You sign a contract (your service agreement) that says you won't exceed that.

During school breaks: SMART does not limit how much you work, your only limit is the hours in a day.

After graduation: Whatever policies apply to federal employees would apply to you. Some companies have rules against doing outside work that is similar to your day job. You would have to check official DOD policy.

[littlehope]

I was told by my SMART liaison that working over the 16hr/wk limit during the semester could be discussed with my SF and essentially that if they were approving of it then I would in short have the go ahead to work more.

[Guest]

I was told by my SMART liaison that working over the 16hr/wk limit during the semester could be discussed with my SF and essentially that if they were approving of it then I would in short have the go ahead to work more.

Did you get this approved? What were your circumstances that required you to work more? I have a job in a research lab at school working 40 hours per week. I'm looking to sell it as part of my writing my thesis.

[kbl2017]

I was told by my SMART liaison that working over the 16hr/wk limit during the semester could be discussed with my SF and essentially that if they were approving of it then I would in short have the go ahead to work more.

Did you get this approved? What were your circumstances that required you to work more? I have a job in a research lab at school working 40 hours per week. I'm looking to sell it as part of my writing my thesis.

I would think if your grades aren't suffering and it can technically be part of your graduation requirement you should have no issue. Are you paid hourly?? If you're not paid hourly/recording it in some official way you technically don't need to tell anyone. Otherwise I would just contact your liaison and say something like part of my thesis requirement includes lab research. The lab research will be around 40 hours a week, do you know who I contact to get this approved through SMART?

[littlehope]

So I inquired about working over the 16hr/wk limit originally because I accepted a co-op position before accepting SMART and I didn’t want to back out of my commitment to them. So I just was honest with my SF that I believed the co-op experience would be just as beneficial as any classes I could take and that I have always worked over 16hr/wk and maintained a good GPA throughout undergrad as proof that I could handle the work load. They were more than gracious to allow me to work full-time, be a student full-time, and I also put 20hr/wk of research towards my thesis.

Now I definitely get the the reasoning behind wanting to work more than the limit as I did it myself but to be honest if you plan to do it while being a full-time student for more than one semester I know I am personally burnt out. If I went back I would still do it over but I definitely couldn’t keep the motivation up to juggle everything for an additional semester. Just some food for thought.

[malarious]

They were more than gracious to allow me to work full-time, be a student full-time, and I also put 20hr/wk of research towards my thesis.

I want you to know that I think you are crazy

[littlehope]

They were more than gracious to allow me to work full-time, be a student full-time, and I also put 20hr/wk of research towards my thesis.

I want you to know that I think you are crazy

I think I had a momentary lapse of insanity. My brain is currently shutting down for the next two weeks for some much needed relaxation. I didn’t even have weekends or school breaks for the previous 5 months.