[echelon]

It's way more than just interruptions, travel, etc.

I recently found /r/overemployed [1] on VC Twitter, and a lot of folks are using this setup to work two (or more) jobs. They know that they'll only need to dedicate 4 hours a day to any given job and as long as they can schedule non-overlapping meetings, they can get away with it.

It's got me thinking though - this might be an opportunity for startups to knowingly hire less than full time employed engineering staff at a reduced comp rate with low stress / low pressure work. Say, 10-20 hours a week, choose your own hours. You might be able to grab a few MANGA/FAANG folks and get them to work on your project instead of their "110% time" pet project at the giantcorp. It might be an operational advantage.

Has anyone looked into this?

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/overemployed ; the lingo is J2 = "job two", J3, etc.

[heavyset_go]

Plenty of people work more than one job. As long as someone does the work that's expected of them and performs their job duties well, it isn't any employer's business what someone does in their time off.

[sshumaker]

Actually, most tech companies have employment agreements that prevent exactly this sort of behavior. When you are dealing with IP, you don’t want this leaking to a competitor. And when you are a big tech company, almost any other tech company is potentially a competitor.

[heavyset_go]

If companies don't want IP leaking, then society provides them plenty of avenues and incentives to prevent that from happening, from NDAs to fines and prison time.

If companies don't want employees working for anyone else, then they should compensate those employees for that privilege. They don't own anyone's free time unless they pay for that privilege.

[greggman3]

In general they do pay for your time outside of work and you agree by taking the job.

Let's say you work strict hours 9am to 5pm M-F. On Thursday at 8:47pm you happen to think of a solution to a problem you're having at work. Are you suggesting the company should pay you more because the idea occurred outside of your strict hours?

In general, companies pay white collar workers / knowledge workers, for their knowledge. That happens regardless of when that knowledge is acquired. It seems pretty common sense and there are also plenty of laws to it up. Any other arrangement would seem full of issues.

[Salgat]

Most companies have requirements on the handling of IP and conflicts of interest. Using separate workstations and working in two different industries solves this problem. Remember, most only require that IP relevant to their company and industry are owned by them.

[wyclif]

IP can be negotiated, though. I've seen it done many times. I've done it myself.

[cercatrova]

Yes, see these threads on HN about part time work. Startups can definitely hire such people, I personally know Gumroad does this.

https://hn.algolia.com/?q=Part+time

[jimmydorry]

MANGA:

* Microsoft

* Amazon

* Netflix? (Why not META?)

* Google

* Apple

[amanzi]

* Meta

* Amazon

* Netflix

* Google

* Apple

Source: https://twitter.com/MorningBrew/status/1453797543096238080

[jimmydorry]

I don't get why they would pick Netflix over Microsoft. And if they are using Meta instead of Facebook, surely it should be Alphabet instead of Google.

[amanzi]

I don't get it either, but I live on the other side of the world to Silicon Valley, so it has no impact on my work life.