Working 2 full time software jobs? [closed]

Question

I'm interested in working 2 full time positions at two different companies. The first company is the company I am already working full time and salaried. The workload is laid-back and not super intensive. The hours are flexible and I am 1 of 2 developers working on one single project as a part of a 5 year contract (the company has a contract with a client). The supervisor isn't strict on our hours, however I do respect their time.

There is a new company that is interested in me. I have interviewed with them during my lunch break. They are fully aware that I have a full time position already. They still wanted to interview me. They have mentioned that their manager would not mind that I am fully employed. I am taking this to mean that it is a strong possibility that I can work at this company that I am interviewing for as a full time developer and the company I am already working for.

From what I understand about the new company I have interviewed, their workload is based on developing apps from the ground up. Their workload is more volatile than the company I am already working for. I am open to this. They are interested in hiring a server-side developer, but they want someone who is willing to edify themselves in areas outside of their expertise (this may include going to conferences and learning from other developers). I am open to this.

After the interview with this new company, they asked me if I am still interested in continuing the interview process. I told them I will have to consider continuing the interview process. I plan on giving them an answer Monday.

Does anyone have any advice for me? I am very interested in working for both companies. I am aware of the workload and I do understand the environment.

Thanks,

Justin

Answer 1

There are two big issues that I see here:

1. You say you are "aware of the workload", but have you really tried working 80, 90, 100 hours a week on a regular basis? My experience with development in general is that even the "laid back" places aren't going to be happy if you put in 30 hours of effort and are only able to increase it to 40 or so when they need you the most.

   It's also my experience that even 80 hours a week is a lot of time to work. A lot of people can handle it for a couple months, but if you're actually wanting to be a FTE at this other place, it's not likely going to be for just a couple months, is it? Burnout is a real thing, even if you're doing something you love. In fact, in some ways it's much worse when you're doing something you love doing because you'll begin to hate it.

2. You really should make sure that moonlighting is a thing that isn't a breach of your contract with your first company, because a lot of the time companies will put people such as yourself on salary instead of hourly wages because they want all of your attention focused on them. Even if there's nothing in there expressly against it, they might have a completely different, less laid back attitude towards you if, instead of giving them the best 30-40 hours of your week, you give them the worst 30-40 hours.

Reading between the lines, what this really sounds like is that the second company does stuff that seems more exciting to you but your current job gives you a paycheck you can count on, so you want both. Unfortunately, you can't always have everything that you want and I think this is going to end up being one of those times. At the same time, if you think you're going to like the other job better, why not take the leap? Perhaps try and find a way to make a gracious exit from the first place, because usually the development industry in a given city is small and you don't want to burn bridges (and hey, worst case scenario, maybe you can get the old job back if the new one doesn't work out).

I just think that what you seem to be angling for as a "compromise" is going to be a solution that leaves nobody happy, least of all yourself.

Answer 2

Generally, if you are a salaried world, you have signed a contract saying that your employer has rights to all your creative output in any field vaguely emboloc [darned autocorrect, that was supposed to be "related to the"] one they do business in. Unless you have explicitly discussed it with them and gotten permission, you may not even be able to do noncommercial or open source work.

So the option probably doesn't exist. But you can investigate it.

Answer 3

Two full time jobs, plus whatever commute is needed, is going to kill you. Plus get you fired twice when you can't keep up with your duties in either job.

If you want to kill yourself, first check that your contract with the first company allows you to work elsewhere at all. Second, you said the second company is aware that you have a fulltime job. Are they aware that you want to keep working in that full-time job? They probably assume that you are going to quit your old job.

And there's a quote: "You can make people be at work for 80 hours a week. You can't make them work for more than 40 hours a week". Both your employers would notice that quite quickly.