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@macintosh: I finished my masters between April 2018 and June 2019 after having daughter in February 2018. It was hard but I feel like it would be harder now - I’m more worn out by the two year old battles (then again, I’m also pregnant). 5 might be easier but I don’t really know yet! My program was all online which was so crucial for me after she was born. Also a factor - my husband works like 70 hours a week so is not able to help a lot during the weekdays; you might find it easier if your workloads are more equitable

Oh - edited to add I work in higher ed administration which is what I got my masters in!

I did an online master's degree program while working FT when DD1 was between 2-4 yrs old. DH also worked FT out of the house when I was in school. It was hard work, but mostly done after she was in bed, or early weekend mornings and nap times.

My employer has a great tuition assistance program for relevant courses, so that was a big incentive. The way I thought about it most though was that yeah, it's going to be a lot of effort and sacrifice but time would move along anyway - and I might as well just start it and be working towards my goal along with it. Life has only gotten busier and my degree has given me such excellent experience and opportunities.

I have seriously considered it. A few questions:

-will you pay for it or will work?
-is it a research based program or a course based one?
- is it full or part-time?
-classroom or in person?

I could have easily done my masters part time while working full time with kids. All of my classes were night classes and it was only 2 nights a week. There was no research requirement-- I had a thesis, but it was a finite limit to completion.

My husband could not have done his master's with kids. He did it while working full time, but he spent years at the lab trying to find a publishable project. He really regretted not going to a class based program.

I tried an online grad school while pregnant and working full time. I refused to finish because the instruction was so horrible. My colleagues have had similar experiences. They are willing to put in sacrifices if they're learning a lot and they feel it's worthwhile, but their BS meter is high.

One other thing to think about is your field and where you get your degree. I say this b/c I know there are certain fields where you need to get the degree from a certain level of university or no one will take you seriously and it will sometimes be wasted time/money. I don't know much about IT so it probably won't be the case but know that was the case for some of the programs that DH was looking into. Good luck!