If your school hours are flexible, and you can find such a job, you can also consider an inverted approach:
Find a full time job that doesn't require constant action, something where you spend most of the time on stand by - Let's say a not-so-busy call center, or a rarely visited shop. That way, you can spend all of the standby time studying.
The downsides are obvious - The job itself will likely be something you don't enjoy, and the hours you spend doing it won't give you any new skills. The upside is that you pick any skill to improve in the standby hours, and you get a fulltime pay.
Now, it isn't easy to find a job where you have that much downtime, and where they tolerate you doing something unrelated, but if you could meet all the prerequisites, I think it would be worth it.
Find a full time job that doesn't require constant action, something where you spend most of the time on stand by
Traditionally, that is the job of the night watchman (security guard night shift, in modern parlance).
Hi Less Wrong,
I'd like to draw on you for some advice.
I'm about to undertake studies, but will need some supplementary income to attain my desired standard of living while doing so.
Part-time work could be attained quite easily, but is likely to take the form of something fairly boring e.g. data entry/bar work.
I was thinking that there might be ways out there for me to learn a particular skill set that would enable me to work from home and at more flexible hours for a source of income, as well as providing me the opportunity to learn something new, given that so many people on here seem to do such things quite successfully.
Given my circumstances below what would you recommend:
I'm fairly intelligent, enjoying learning, and have strong social skills
I live in Sydney Australia
I have musical talents
I have a car
I lack softward development/programming skills
I have decent office application skills.
I'm willing to put the hours in to level up a new ability.
Any suggestions/Tips/criticisms are welcome.