Ask HN: How to Keep Two Jobs? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to Keep Two Jobs?

7 pointstthrowwawwayy10 comments

I'm facing a bit of a moral dilemma. Throwaway for obvious reasons.

I am a tired developer. On every job I've worked so far, I was always over-delivering, doing extra, and contributing to things out of the scope of my position (e.g. I was a hired as a back-end dev, but often fixed things on front-end out of my own will). I realized that, whatever you do, the salary that gets to your account by the end of the month is always the same. Yeah, you get promoted faster, maybe get raises, etc., but I'm making pretty decent money already.

I recently joined a remote company (let's call it job #1). Since I am now keeping it to myself, the work is showing up to be _way_ easier than I expected. The product is not that complex and what I've been doing so far is mostly implementing new CRUDs and other things (nothing challenge for me). I am on the computer 6h a day, 2-3h of this time I would say are really productive.

I perform well under heavy workload (I'm hyper aware of Parkinson's Law). It feels more motivating and pushes me to be more organized. Two weeks ago, I managed to land a second part-time job (job #2) to fill in my time. In a normal day, I'm working 4h on job #1 and 3h on job #2. I work some extra 3-4h on the weekends on job #2 to reach the 20h/week that we agreed on.

My dilemma is that I'm feeling a bit guilty on job #1. They have no idea about job #2. My contract doesn't mention anything about working 8h a day or anything, but it feels wrong.

Am I overthinking this, or is it really that bad? Have you ever faced something similar and came to a different agreement with your employers?

Edit: I'm a contractor on both jobs. On job #1, I'm a contractor just on paper, as I am treated as FTE (perks, schedule, expectations, and overall approach).

Yes, you are over thinking. Maintain your current setup as long as possible. If at job#1, there is an indication by managers that you're not meeting expectations, then drop job#2. If it helps, read a bit of history to see how your transgression is all but an invisible blip compared to the depravity humans are capable of.

> If it helps, read a bit of history to see how your transgression is all but an invisible blip compared to the depravity humans are capable of.

Seriously. The OP is very honest, which makes him a good employee, I guess.

Personally, I am considering working up to 3-4 FT jobs if I ever have to work for someone else again. It just seems very doable and against fiduciary duty to myself not to do it. Even if there is some churn, I'd still be ahead.

You say jobs, and then say contract. Are you an FTE or a contract worker?

If FTE, borderline.

If contractor, congratulations, you have just started an agency.

Edited my original comment, I am a contractor on both, but on job #1 is mostly on paper. I am treated as a FTE.

Gotcha, thanks for clarifying. If you’re treated as FTE, why are you not?

I’ve had a similar situation before, and I will say that of course they want to make you feel like an FTE while keeping you on contract. That is the best of both worlds for them, of which you reap nothing but self-employment paperwork.

Well, the main reason is because I don't live in the same country as the company HQs. Most countries don't have labour laws adapted to remote working yet.

But since we're on the subject, I actually prefer working as a contractor on any occasion. I pay way less taxes, have control over my retirement money, and negotiate silly perks like gym/co-working memberships into a bigger salary. FTEs in my company make 25% less (net) and cost 30% more to the company.

Don't feel guilty.

Once I realized my company wouldn't promote me and the work was easy because I became an expert, took a second job without telling them. They never noticed. If they don't notice, then telling them can only lead to manufactured problems. I worked a fulltime job (40-50 hours) with an hour commute each way, then got a second job as an associate at Lowes (16-20 hours).

I only quit my job at Lowes when I was forced to switch technologies and need the extra time to learn things.

> I'm feeling a bit guilty

Don't shoot yourself in the foot. The moment you let job#1's managers know about job#2, you will only have a part-time job left

Out of curiosity, did you sign an invention assignment agreement at both companies? Is so, I wonder how that works (I am not a lawyer).

I echo everyone else - You are overthinking it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com