Overemployment

Luke Johnson
3 min readNov 8, 2021

Imagine having double or triple the wages while keeping your workload at a comfortable level. The people at the website Overemployed certainly have, and they're more than willing to help you find a way.

What is Overemployment

The idea for Overemployment got its start at the beginning of the pandemic when most of the workforce went remote. The founders of the website Overemployed were hired at a new job and wondered what would happen if they didn't quit their current position! If they did a lousy job at either place, they'd be fired and still have the other job. The creators started the advice website to write about their experiences, soon finding others with similar ideas, and a community of people was born!

On Overemployed, you can read weekly journals tracking workers' journeys with multiple employers and the mishaps of the territory. You can also get tips on juggling multiple laptops for different companies and managing conflicting meetings. The community will do its best to convince you of the benefits of working two jobs remotely and explain why it's a great approach.

Arguments for Overemployment

Some studies show the average person works about three productive hours per day. There are several factors at work here. It takes time to get started and focus on your tasks in the morning, plus there are unnecessary meetings to attend and plenty of other distractions in social media and news. Theoretically, if you give 100% for three hours each at two jobs, you should perform on par with other employees.

Other writers discuss why overworking yourself at one company for incremental raises is superfluous when performing adequately at two will bring in twice the salary. Many Americans who make $100K report still feeling strapped for cash. Overemployment can mitigate this by seizing your income security faster. Several workers stash away the income from one job to collect interest, planning for financial independence. Additionally, working two jobs requires delivering more in a shorter time, which makes you more efficient, and who doesn't want to make more money for less work?

Reasons to Stick with One Job

Burnout is a significant reason for steering clear of two full-time positions. Overemployment touches on the need to operate passably to sup-par at one or both assignments to manage time correctly, and doing so could degrade your career and network. You'd also be dealing with frustration from supervisors and freeing yourself up to workplace drama.

This form of work-life balance also brings its stressors due to the secretive nature of the work. While it's legal to work two salaried jobs full-time in most states, there are still NDA's and contracts that can prevent you from doing so. It's very easy to neglect a meeting, use the incorrect email, or log into a Zoom call using the wrong credentials—all potentially embarrassing and sometimes reasons for termination.

Conclusion

I found the Overemployment website intriguing, but as a new developer, I don't see this being something that I could reasonably do. We constantly say things like "no man is an island" and "there's no 'i' in team," and in the Tech industry, networking is essential, especially with newer developers. But more power to the people at Overemployment.

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