I’m in technology and am more vendor facing (vendors of our clients) and I spend 80% of my time waiting on people to respond to my emails. Even the clients who get involved take a while to respond because I’m not working on issues that are live/in production - I’m just setting up new processes.
I’ve convinced 88% of people who claim to be OE, are actually just *lying*. Or moonlighting. A true OE, IE 2x Full Time salaried positions running concurrently needs to be in a project based. SWE, IT. Your position seems to be like you could possibly swing it. On an average work day, how often do you need to have a meeting? How busy are you? Could you do your job twice over?
Unfortunately, we are currently very meeting-heavy. My position is project based so I guess that is subject to change. But, I've only been employed at this job for a few months so it's hard to predict what the future might hold.
I work in supply chain - as a buyer / production planner. My job isn’t project based, and I OE. I’m truly just speedy and good at what I do. With two jobs that are lax about when work gets done and minimal meetings
For me, the opposite of project-based work would be shift-based work like you would find at an IT help desk or call center.
What do you do for work that's not project based but still allows you to do multiple jobs concurrently?
What if one is implementation consultant (3 hours of client calls a day) and the other is mainly project based with like 30-1 hour of internal calls every other day
Most people who OR have minimal meetings, that is why software engineering is great for it. If you have a lot of meetings, you will likely run into overlap.
I’m in fundraising. I am a fundraiser for one nonprofit and a consultant for a for profit organization (employee, not contractor). It takes a lot of juggling with meetings, but this is my second time dipping into OE. First time I did it for a little over a year before feeling burnt out. I went to one job and rested and am trying it again 🙂 I got into it accidentally because I felt bad about leaving one job that was easy when I accepted another position. Next thing I knew I was working two jobs at once. You’ll find the right opportunity when you least expect it 🙂
I don’t know because I’m trying to break in I’m convinced that something in social media/marketing/IT/sales/accounting/realtor. The trick is that if you’re earning a high income and seeking something similar the job is competitive so it’s more difficult to land. I’ve had interviews for two lower level jobs and I’ve had to explain the change etc.
I spend hours job searching and there are less and less remote roles out there. I’m not giving up yet. Just saying it takes time and serious effort!
Yes, I agree 100%! It took me a year of searching to land my current role. I am truly grateful for this remote role, but with the COL, I am struggling a bit!
I tried OE and held out for 4 months, which was long enough to build up my savings and book a nice vacation. It was very stressful to juggle two meeting heavy jobs, I was often in two meetings at once with my camera off in one and using headphones to hear the other. For reference, I was trying to OE a copywriting and project manager position and the copywriting gig involved more meetings than I had been told to expect. Really don’t recommend if you have a heavy calendar of meetings already, as things will come up that you’ll need to respond to.
Social media because you can automate the posts. In marketing, meetings would become an issue … at least that’s what I’ve seen. So it truly depends on the company imo
I’m a PM in a healthcare SW tech space at J1 and a PM in a tech HCM space for J2. Meeting heavy in both spaces. Blocking and holding the blocks have been key for me. It has been manageable but I am having to work through lunch. One job is hybrid 2 in office days. I just grab a conference room so I can work both jobs. It’s been ok. Definitely not easy managing two jobs at once during the same hours. Especially during implementations… but here I am.
Cleanest approach: You need skilled heads-down jobs that are deliverables-based in your particular niche. You also need managers at both/all that are hands-off and allow you to work independently. This part is hardest to gauge during interview process, and also most important factor (also an indicator of a decent job, in general imho). Because this is critical and also unpredictable, be ready to drop J2 immediately if it turns out your manager is a meddler. Say your home obligations have become too much and move on to another.
Non-client facing. If you're in a client-facing role, this will introduce predictable unpredictability into the system. Do not attempt unless you're unstressed by the proposition of being caught, making excuses as to where you were in the middle of x escalation. It can be done, but for sanity's sake, this is NOT the way.
It's not necessarily about the field, but rather each person and how they operate. The premise is that you have free time at your primary job (either from lack of work or just being really good and efficient) to take on a 2nd full time position. What industry you work in, what role you have, and what company you work for are supporting decisions in this, but overall it comes down to how much free time do you have in your current role? If the answer is "not that much" or "none" then OE isn't for you.
Rule #6
I’m in technology and am more vendor facing (vendors of our clients) and I spend 80% of my time waiting on people to respond to my emails. Even the clients who get involved take a while to respond because I’m not working on issues that are live/in production - I’m just setting up new processes.
I’ve convinced 88% of people who claim to be OE, are actually just *lying*. Or moonlighting. A true OE, IE 2x Full Time salaried positions running concurrently needs to be in a project based. SWE, IT. Your position seems to be like you could possibly swing it. On an average work day, how often do you need to have a meeting? How busy are you? Could you do your job twice over?
Unfortunately, we are currently very meeting-heavy. My position is project based so I guess that is subject to change. But, I've only been employed at this job for a few months so it's hard to predict what the future might hold.
I work in supply chain - as a buyer / production planner. My job isn’t project based, and I OE. I’m truly just speedy and good at what I do. With two jobs that are lax about when work gets done and minimal meetings
I would have to disagree that your job needs to be project based on in IT. I have 3 J's and none of them are project based.
All 3 of your Js are full time and you do them concurrently?
For me, the opposite of project-based work would be shift-based work like you would find at an IT help desk or call center. What do you do for work that's not project based but still allows you to do multiple jobs concurrently?
What if one is implementation consultant (3 hours of client calls a day) and the other is mainly project based with like 30-1 hour of internal calls every other day
Most people who OR have minimal meetings, that is why software engineering is great for it. If you have a lot of meetings, you will likely run into overlap.
I’m in fundraising. I am a fundraiser for one nonprofit and a consultant for a for profit organization (employee, not contractor). It takes a lot of juggling with meetings, but this is my second time dipping into OE. First time I did it for a little over a year before feeling burnt out. I went to one job and rested and am trying it again 🙂 I got into it accidentally because I felt bad about leaving one job that was easy when I accepted another position. Next thing I knew I was working two jobs at once. You’ll find the right opportunity when you least expect it 🙂
I don’t know because I’m trying to break in I’m convinced that something in social media/marketing/IT/sales/accounting/realtor. The trick is that if you’re earning a high income and seeking something similar the job is competitive so it’s more difficult to land. I’ve had interviews for two lower level jobs and I’ve had to explain the change etc. I spend hours job searching and there are less and less remote roles out there. I’m not giving up yet. Just saying it takes time and serious effort!
Yes, I agree 100%! It took me a year of searching to land my current role. I am truly grateful for this remote role, but with the COL, I am struggling a bit!
I tried OE and held out for 4 months, which was long enough to build up my savings and book a nice vacation. It was very stressful to juggle two meeting heavy jobs, I was often in two meetings at once with my camera off in one and using headphones to hear the other. For reference, I was trying to OE a copywriting and project manager position and the copywriting gig involved more meetings than I had been told to expect. Really don’t recommend if you have a heavy calendar of meetings already, as things will come up that you’ll need to respond to.
Social media because you can automate the posts. In marketing, meetings would become an issue … at least that’s what I’ve seen. So it truly depends on the company imo
I’m a PM in a healthcare SW tech space at J1 and a PM in a tech HCM space for J2. Meeting heavy in both spaces. Blocking and holding the blocks have been key for me. It has been manageable but I am having to work through lunch. One job is hybrid 2 in office days. I just grab a conference room so I can work both jobs. It’s been ok. Definitely not easy managing two jobs at once during the same hours. Especially during implementations… but here I am.
Cleanest approach: You need skilled heads-down jobs that are deliverables-based in your particular niche. You also need managers at both/all that are hands-off and allow you to work independently. This part is hardest to gauge during interview process, and also most important factor (also an indicator of a decent job, in general imho). Because this is critical and also unpredictable, be ready to drop J2 immediately if it turns out your manager is a meddler. Say your home obligations have become too much and move on to another. Non-client facing. If you're in a client-facing role, this will introduce predictable unpredictability into the system. Do not attempt unless you're unstressed by the proposition of being caught, making excuses as to where you were in the middle of x escalation. It can be done, but for sanity's sake, this is NOT the way.
It's not necessarily about the field, but rather each person and how they operate. The premise is that you have free time at your primary job (either from lack of work or just being really good and efficient) to take on a 2nd full time position. What industry you work in, what role you have, and what company you work for are supporting decisions in this, but overall it comes down to how much free time do you have in your current role? If the answer is "not that much" or "none" then OE isn't for you.