Ask HN: Who here is juggling two or more remote jobs? How is it working out? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Who here is juggling two or more remote jobs? How is it working out?

#31

Post by hamstrung » Mon, Apr 25, 2022, 3:46 PM UTC

akhmatova wrote: post #8

If you're two-timing on clients / employers (that is, plainly working two FT jobs at once) -- you can't expect that to end well. If you're working > 50 hours a week (or whatever your personal limit is) for more than 1-2 months -- that won't end well for your health or business relationships, either. That's the score, basically.

Your score isn't my score.

My F/T job at a FAANG adds up to about 10 hrs/week at most.. sometimes 15 hrs due to extra meetings. Could easily fit in another job, but would rather sit in the sun and read a book.

Re: Ask HN: Who here is juggling two or more remote jobs? How is it working out?

#32

Post by ghaff » Mon, Apr 25, 2022, 3:47 PM UTC

hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #19

ShivShankaran wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of employees do it. Their 9-5 jobs suffers but pay over there is guaranteed. I know more than few startup employees who work with other startups on hourly contract basis. Part of the reason for managers to start pushing for return to office since its harder to cheat this way from office.

> Their 9-5 jobs suffers If they do it this way, they are doing it wrong. At my current job I can squeeze all my daily tasks in maybe one hour (mind you, this is after 10 years of doing a very similar set of things). It becomes longer when a significant change comes or an emergency happens but after a few weeks it's all the same. I study new things and develop my competences during the spare hours but I can imagine I…

There's a huge difference between coasting a bit and using available time to learn, do side projects, read books, even earn a bit doing some freelance non-competitive work--and working two jobs where the expectation of each is that you're working full-time. (And, in all probability violating various confidentiality etc. agreements.)

Re: Ask HN: Who here is juggling two or more remote jobs? How is it working out?

#33

Post by jhugo » Mon, Apr 25, 2022, 3:48 PM UTC

sdfgdfghj wrote: post #25

froaway4job wrote: post #22

I've been working multiple remote jobs for the past 4 years. I'm currently working 4 full time engineering roles and a part time contract. It's been tough but a great experience. The main struggle is scheduling and making sure you can make all the meetings. It's also tough finding the right job which gives you autonomy to form your schedule. The main perks are obviously money and not caring about getting laid off. In…

is this even legal?

Depends what you mean exactly. It's almost certainly a breach of all of the contracts, unless they were quite sloppily drafted, but it's probably not a crime [1]. The repercussions would be as determined by the contracts — likely just termination.

[1] Not legal advice. It could maybe be fraud depending on the details?

Re: Ask HN: Who here is juggling two or more remote jobs? How is it working out?

#34

Post by mrcartmeneses » Mon, Apr 25, 2022, 3:51 PM UTC

Seems like a recipe for burnout to me.

But I burn myself out just doing one job anyway. Because for some reason if I’ve not out-delivered everyone else by an order of magnitude then I’m not satisfied

Re: Ask HN: Who here is juggling two or more remote jobs? How is it working out?

#35

Post by mongol » Mon, Apr 25, 2022, 3:51 PM UTC

sithadmin wrote: post #29

FWIW, a lot of US employers report your current employment status, role and salary to databases like Equifax's 'The Work Number' - and nearly any organization that subscribes can view this data. HR departments DO look at this info and occasionally spot-check it to catch moonlighting employees. You can request your own data here: https://employees.theworknumber.com/

So much for keeping salaries secret. Amazing.

Re: Ask HN: Who here is juggling two or more remote jobs? How is it working out?

#36

Post by mongol » Mon, Apr 25, 2022, 3:54 PM UTC

solenoidalslide wrote: post #23

overemployed wrote: post #12

New account not to dox myself here. I'm doing it. I very recently took on a second full time job. I work as a Release Engineer for both. It hasn't been too bad so far. The biggest thing is managing your calendars to avoid conflicts.

Do you often get into sitcom-like situations where you are in two different meetings at once and have to make sure you avoid any unmute mishaps? I'm specifically thinking a case where you have to respond in a way that would make sense to both calls at once.

In would love to see the Seinfeld episode where George Costanza tries this. Perhaps it exists?

Re: Ask HN: Who here is juggling two or more remote jobs? How is it working out?

#37

Post by captainbland » Mon, Apr 25, 2022, 3:55 PM UTC

No chance. I guess maybe contractors might get away with it in some circumstances but I don't see how it works in conventional FT agile teams with regular ceremonies, meetings, etc. Plus I value my free time, which I know is weird.

Re: Ask HN: Who here is juggling two or more remote jobs? How is it working out?

#38

Post by tra3 » Mon, Apr 25, 2022, 3:57 PM UTC

sdfgdfghj wrote: post #25

froaway4job wrote: post #22

I've been working multiple remote jobs for the past 4 years. I'm currently working 4 full time engineering roles and a part time contract. It's been tough but a great experience. The main struggle is scheduling and making sure you can make all the meetings. It's also tough finding the right job which gives you autonomy to form your schedule. The main perks are obviously money and not caring about getting laid off. In…

is this even legal?

It may be against his contract, but none of the employment contracts I've ever had stipulated that I couldn't hire out my services elsewhere. Why do you think it'd be illegal?

Re: Ask HN: Who here is juggling two or more remote jobs? How is it working out?

#39

Post by tra3 » Mon, Apr 25, 2022, 3:59 PM UTC

im_busy wrote: post #26

I currently have 1 full time job, 1 full time contracting, and 4 clients that pay me a retainer for a set amount of hours they can use week to week. It's going fine; I measure that based on my performance reviews all being excellent, my clients all paying the bills on time, and all work is done in a timely fashion. I do individual contributor infrastructure engineering at the senior+ level. Managing the calendar is t…

Thanks for sharing. If you don't mind a couple of questions:

- is the compensation worth it? - do you think this is going to be a long term thing for you (burning the candle at both ends)?

Re: Ask HN: Who here is juggling two or more remote jobs? How is it working out?

#40

Post by gdfgjhs » Mon, Apr 25, 2022, 4:00 PM UTC

I am so confused with comments in this threads. Since when did tech employees became so submissive and scared? As far as I know, having 2 jobs is not illegal, not unethical.

Many, sadly, low income families have to work two or more jobs. We in tech make enough but what if you are bored and need more challenges.

My current second job is family but I know multiple single engineers (or in one case, with grown up kids) with 2 jobs. They work 16+ hours each day but with pandemic there was nothing else to do, so might as well do more work. At least, one guy is pretty open about it with both of his employers. Others hide it but they get the work done.

Also you can list 2 jobs on your resume. When I started my career, I didn't had very high paying tech job, I did freelance work on the side and listed on my resume. Never been problem.

Your company doesn't own you.