I used to think working two developer jobs was the ultimate career hack.
And for over half a year, I did it. I worked two jobs in parallel within an 8-hour window. But I made a huge mistake. I had two mid-level jobs with mediocre salaries. I stopped when I realized I could earn the same amount with just one senior role, with way less stress.
That experience taught me that being overemployed is full of traps. Here are some of the biggest ones.
It's not about financial freedom
This is the biggest misconception. Overemployment is a great tool to pay off loans and reduce the stress of owing money. It's not a sustainable path to get rich and retire. The stress is real. A year after I stopped, I still sometimes have nightmares about parallel meetings.
Your mindset has to change
You can't be deeply involved in projects anymore. You have to stay indifferent to the team and the code base, otherwise you get pulled into long meetings you can't afford to be in. Your employer will try to manipulate you with ideas like "we're a family." You have to remember you are trading your time for money, that's it.
A good way to handle this is to treat one job for money and the second job for fun. Like the Witcher has two swords, each for a different purpose.
It is not easy
Don't think this is like working one normal job. It's not. You have parallel meetings, double the context to remember, and multiple deadlines at the same time. You have to be a good communicator and an effective developer to make it work. A huge part of the challenge is learning how to not work 16 hours a day and managing the anxiety.
It's not forever
Working two jobs is not sustainable long term. Even when I say "long term," I mean one or two years. Very few people can do it longer than that. Think of it as an experiment. After a while, you'll need a break and go back to one job to recharge.
These are just a few of the mistakes you can make. I cover all nine of the most costly traps in my full video.
Go watch it before your calendar starts to look like a game of Tetris gone wrong.
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