Work Two Full Time Jobs @ Same Time?

[GreenPrint]

Work Two Full Time Jobs @ Same Time?!?

I'm considering possibly working two full time degree related jobs after I graduate college. I'm currently not in a relationship and who knows may go through all of college without being in one. If I don't have something else to devote my time to, like a relationship, then I don't see why working two full time jobs wouldn't be possible. An 80 work week among seven days is about 11.5 hours a day. This would be very manageable. Work from roughly 7:30 to 7:30 every day would leave me time to exercise either before or after work and leave me with more than 8 hours of sleep every night. I believe one could make some serious cash in two entry level positions out of college working 80 hours a week. As I continued to gain work related experience and knowledge I could progress within the companies and make more money, especially if by the time I retired I had roughly 90 years of work related experience. Apparently working two full time jobs at the same time is not something many humans can withstand so I would imagine if you had 90 years of work related experience by the time you retire you would be making lots of money as it's something many humans wouldn't have.

Have any of you worked two full time jobs at the same time or know someone that has? The experience and cash reward of doing so sound great.

 

[Robert1986]

Short term, this might work. For example, if you worked two jobs to dig yourself out of student debt. However, I think you are not thinking about a few things.

1) You are considering this as a "best-case" scenario. For example, things are going to go wrong in your life that you will need to handle. Not big stuff, but stuff like your car needing some repair, something in your house/apt needing repair, etc. There is virtually no time to fit these sorts of things in your schedule.

2) No matter how much sleep you get, or whatever, your performance at both jobs will be less than it would be if you had only one job. If your employers are fine with this, then you are either extremely lucky or you could probably be making more money for another employer.

3) It will be better long-term to sink your teeth into one job and be excellent at that job. You will increase your skills there and are more likely to be promoted.

4) If you don't have a relationship now, you probably never will with this schedule.

 

[Office_Shredder]

If you are working two full time jobs your schedule will not be "go to work twelve hours a day each day". I have a hard timer believing your employer will he like "yeah you need to be here forty hours a week but I don't care when you do it?"

 

[Pengwuino]

And really, why in the world would you want to waste your life working like that? I've never heard of someone that ever felt good about working their 20s/30s away with 0 social interactions or entertainment. Maybe you'd have a sizeable retirement, but you'd end up with no one to spend it with (friends or family/significant other).

 

[AlephZero]

This probably won't work the way you describe it. Even if you find two employers who will let a new starter with no industrial experience work nonstandard hours from day one (unlikely IMO) you may find it contravenes your contracts of employment to do paid work for another company in a similar line of business. (That would certainly apply in the UK).

In any case both employers may find out before very long, and they are unlikely to think this is a good idea!

If you really want to make money by moonlighting, get a second job as a private tutor, taxi driver, bartender, or whatever - preferably working for cash only (not that I'm endorsing illegal tax evasion, of course!)

 

[pi-r8]

There's plenty of single jobs that would be happy to work you 80 hours a week for a chance at making large amounts of money. Investment banking and software development come to mind...

 

[Evo]

I'm considering possibly working two full time degree related jobs after I graduate college. I'm currently not in a relationship and who knows may go through all of college without being in one. If I don't have something else to devote my time to, like a relationship, then I don't see why working two full time jobs wouldn't be possible. An 80 work week among seven days is about 11.5 hours a day. This would be very manageable. Work from roughly 7:30 to 7:30 every day would leave me time to exercise either before or after work and leave me with more than 8 hours of sleep every night. I believe one could make some serious cash in two entry level positions out of college working 80 hours a week. As I continued to gain work related experience and knowledge I could progress within the companies and make more money, especially if by the time I retired I had roughly 90 years of work related experience. Apparently working two full time jobs at the same time is not something many humans can withstand so I would imagine if you had 90 years of work related experience by the time you retire you would be making lots of money as it's something many humans wouldn't have.

Have any of you worked two full time jobs at the same time or know someone that has? The experience and cash reward of doing so sound great.

Working 80+ hours a week is something a lot of people do.

 

[turbo]

I have put in that work-load, but it's not fun. If you're in a relationship, you'd better have a very understanding partner. Many years ago, the CFO of a large construction company that I worked for came to the job-site and offered me a "raise" and a "promotion" to superintendent. I told him that I wanted to stay as an hourly worker and that I wanted more money per hour, too. I knew that finishing up that project of 10 apartment buildings would be a killer, and I wanted ALL the money due to me. The CFO (a Dutch Jew who had survived WWII) said something to the extent of "You're a pretty smart fellow". When the project was finally winding down, he offered to move me and my wife to the Boston area and put me through Constructors' school (a must-have certification in that area for any building over 5 stories, at the time), and I turned him down. I said that as soon as he had me in that position, he and his boss would send me to Africa (as they had done to my previous super), and I wouldn't stand for that. He waited to make that offer (invitation to suicide, IMO) until I was driving him back to the airport after punchlisting that entire apartment complex, and when I told him no, he said something like "You are quite glib, my young friend. And you are right."

I lost touch with the previous super, and that should not have happened. He was a Latvian who walked out of Europe (the hard way) with his mother and his aunt after the Russians swept through their region. His mother and aunt hauled him out of school after the Russians had killed all their livestock and stolen all their stores (grains, vegetables, etc) and killed all of the adult males as they swept through to Germany. Kredo was a good man. He taught me that nobody should judge entire populations without trying to understand their history. When the Nazis pushed back to Russia, all the men in his region willingly joined up. "Just give me a gun, and we'll kill them." They were the shock-troops, and took heavy losses. Kredo told me of times that his mother, aunt, and him had walked for days, and one of them had offered him a gleaned potato or turnip or carrot, saying "I'm not hungry. You eat it." Those wonderful old ladies were well-cared-for later in life.

Gone WAY off-topic, here, but my friend and I put in brutal hours. Even if I didn't have arthritis and other inflammatory problems, I doubt that I'd have the strength (or the sheer bull-headedness) to pull that off again. 80 hours a week is killer. Some people can pull it off, and some people would give it up, even if they are young and strong.

 

[turbo]

BTW, if your idea of a life is to get home after 2 days of work (effectively), shower and fall into bed, something is askew. I pulled it off for a year, with the support of a loving wife. We had nothing at the time and were doing our best to build our savings, so that we could buy a place of our own (at a minimum) and got through it. I would not recommend it to anybody who is not Iron Man. (with a good woman!)

 

[D H]

Working 80+ hours a week is something a lot of people do.

Yes and no. Claiming to work 80+ hours a week is something a lot of people do. Productively working 80+ hours a week is something hardly anyone does.

Do the math. There are 168 hours in a week. Sleeping, plus getting ready for bed and waking up consumes about 60 hours. Eating, plus getting ready to eat and cleaning up afterwards consumes 10 hours -- and that's if someone else prepares the food and cleans up afterwards. Personal hygiene and exercise, another 10 hours. Doing chores, errands, paying bills: That's yet another 10 hours. That leaves 78 hours. How are you going to drive to and from work and then work 80+ hours when there's only 78 hours available?

The answer is you don't. Airplane flights are oftentimes a big part of those 80+ hour weeks, but the snoozing that occurs on those flights isn't all that a productive use of one's time. Neither is paying one's personal bills online while one is (at least physically) at work. Doing business on the cell phone while driving to and from work is dangerous and illegal, but many people who work 80+ hour weeks are doing just that and calling the drive part of the 80+ hours.

 

[Antiphon]

Working two full time professional jobs just isn't done. Put your energy toward getting the maximum pay out of one job.

 

[noobilly]

Yes and no. Claiming to work 80+ hours a week is something a lot of people do. Productively working 80+ hours a week is something hardly anyone does.

Do the math. There are 168 hours in a week. Sleeping, plus getting ready for bed and waking up consumes about 60 hours. Eating, plus getting ready to eat and cleaning up afterwards consumes 10 hours -- and that's if someone else prepares the food and cleans up afterwards. Personal hygiene and exercise, another 10 hours. Doing chores, errands, paying bills: That's yet another 10 hours. That leaves 78 hours. How are you going to drive to and from work and then work 80+ hours when there's only 78 hours available?

The answer is you don't. Airplane flights are oftentimes a big part of those 80+ hour weeks, but the snoozing that occurs on those flights isn't all that a productive use of one's time. Neither is paying one's personal bills online while one is (at least physically) at work. Doing business on the cell phone while driving to and from work is dangerous and illegal, but many people who work 80+ hour weeks are doing just that and calling the drive part of the 80+ hours.

I think some ppl who work 80+ hour weeks are definitely spending less than 60 hours on sleep-related activities.

 

[twofish-quant]

An 80 work week among seven days is about 11.5 hours a day.

You are assuming that the 40 hour work week exists, which it doesn't for any job that anyone in this forum is likely to get.

The way most high technology jobs work is that you get a fixed salary, and in exchange for that salary, you do the work until its done. This invariably involves more than 40 hours a week, and you have "crunch times" when you spend 80 hours a week getting something out, and then then next week everyone shows up late once the deadline has past.

The other thing is that most salaried jobs have policies against moonlighting which means that they won't let you have another job.

I believe one could make some serious cash in two entry level positions out of college working 80 hours a week.

In some industries (finance and law) junior people are expected to work 80 hours a week in one job. This also happens a lot in start-ups.

 

[twofish-quant]

Ahh... Memories...

I remember working for a tiny dot-com. We had two people on the software team, and were responsible for the deployment of a database system to a Fortune 500 company. I remember coming to work at 2 a.m. to do the deployment, and the next two weeks were a blur as I sleep in the office and went home to shower. Even when I was at home, I got cell phone calls continously for two weeks. My bonus for doing this was lunch.

After the third time this happened, I quit...

Personally, I think family is more important than work. One thing that I learned is that at any moment your employer can and will stab you in the back. If they think that they can make slightly more money firing everyone and moving jobs to Elbonia, they will, and honestly, they should. Your relationship with your employer is purely an economic one. The relationships with family are more than economics.

 

[D H]

The way most high technology jobs work is that you get a fixed salary, and in exchange for that salary, you do the work until its done.

Yep. The vast majority of those who have a bachelors degree or higher in some technical field are "exempt" employees. Many of the rules and regulations that apply to hourly employees do not apply to exempt employees.

This invariably involves more than 40 hours a week, and you have "crunch times" when you spend 80 hours a week getting something out

I hate those weeks when I have my supposed 40 hour week finished by Wednesday noon -- and I know the week won't be done until sometime Saturday.

and then then next week everyone shows up late once the deadline has past.

If only things evened out that way. They never do.

The other thing is that most salaried jobs have policies against moonlighting which means that they won't let you have another job.

That too is consistent with what I've run across. About the only exception I've seen is for people who moonlight part time as an instructor at a college or junior college.

 

[Nano-Passion]

Ever heard of economic slavery? Unless your passionate about a certain job then I don't see one reason why you should do this.

What is your motivation to work this many hours? Is it an absolute must? There is much more to life than money. Be careful not to waste your years chasing something so impermanent.

If my opinion is of any worth-- work a modest shift and maintain a happy life.

 

[fss]

Yes and no. Claiming to work 80+ hours a week is something a lot of people do. Productively working 80+ hours a week is something hardly anyone does.

Not really sure how this is an argument. Claiming to work 40+ hours a week is something a lot of people do. As everyone knows it's impossible to be 100% productive in any work environment.

 

[Office_Shredder]

Not really sure how this is an argument. Claiming to work 40+ hours a week is something a lot of people do. As everyone knows it's impossible to be 100% productive in any work environment.

If someone claims they're working 80 hours a week they're maybe doing 60 hours of work. If you're working at only one place they're probably pretty happy with 60 hours, but if it's split between two employers and giving each 30 hours they're probably going to be pretty mad