Note sure why this is getting down voted. Freelancers and contractors work multiple client jobs all the time. Low wage workers work multiple 'full time' jobs all the time. Are FT software engineers special?
FT in the software industry sets an expectation of full-time availability. Even if you have a light job that only takes a few hours a day, part of the reason we get away with that is knowing that if something blows up (Log4Shell being a perfect recent example), we are available to step up and spend the time needed to handle it. If you have 2 or 3 jobs, you do not have that availability.
This differs from low-wage jobs in other industries, where you are paid for your time on your shift, and then have zero expectations of your time outside of your assigned shifts.
Yes. If you want to work multiple jobs, that’s what contracting / consulting is for.
I don’t think you can compare engineers to a struggling single parent working 2 jobs at minimum wage. The former signs contracts saying they won’t work for other companies concurrently, the latter likely doesn’t.
If you want multiple jobs, simply work as a 1099 contractor. It’s that simple.
This strikes me as nonsense. There seems to be an uncritical acceptance of a definition of FT software engineering responsibilities here.
As an exempt, salaried employee you are being paid for work, not time. If you can manage to do the work for two employers then they have no cause to complain and you've earned your pay.
If you fail to do the assigned work or are unavailable for sync meetings (probably the hardest part of this arrangement) then they can fire you.
Any parent who is also a FT software engineer has two full time jobs, they just don't get paid for one of them. Cultural inertia around what you 'owe' your employer is not to the benefit of employees.
In this situation, where there are plenty of low level jobs that pay $125k that require 4 hours or less of actual coding time per day, working two of those jobs seems like a totally viable option. As others have pointed out you have to avoid employers that try to prevent you from working more than one job, but there are plenty of those (personal experience) so this, again, seems like a pretty good option.
Don't those workers working multiple 'full time' jobs usually have temp contracts paid by hour or service?
I haven't seen a full-time contract that would allow me to take other such commitments from other companies. Whereas when I was a freelancer I had to demonstrate that I have at least 3 roughly equal sized clients to be legally recognized as such.
Many (most?) work contracts mention that you can't just take another job without at least informing and asking permission from your current employer, who would most likely say no, especially if it's another software engineering job.
