- A millennial in California made over $300,000 last year secretly working two remote jobs.
- He's saving up to buy a home, but he spent roughly $9,000 on a three-week honeymoon across Asia.
- He said he doesn't feel guilty about being overemployed because he's productive at both jobs.
Last year, John, a millennial IT professional based in California, earned over $300,000 secretly working two remote jobs, according to documents viewed by Business Insider. But when it comes to spending his extra income, he's generally very cautious.
He's saved roughly $150,000 since he started job-juggling in 2021, he told BI via email. He still drives the same car, flies economy, and typically stays at 2-to-3-star hotels when he travels. One of the main reasons John spends so judiciously is that he wants to buy a home someday. As things stand, he said the downpayment on a house with the profile he desires would use up most of his savings.
"I wish I could say it made me rich, and don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not hurting for money," said John, whose identity is known to BI but has been withheld due to his fear of professional repercussions. "But homeownership still feels far away."
There's one big expense, however, that John decided to put money toward last year. He spent roughly $9,000 on a three-week honeymoon across Asia for himself and his wife, according to documents viewed by BI.
Even before he started a second job, John said he and his wife had plans to travel to the continent in some capacity, but the pandemic forced them to postpone their trip. By the time they started planning it again a couple of years later, their financial circumstances had changed.
"When it came down to rescheduling, I was overemployed already — so we decided to splurge a bit," John said.
John is among a niche group of job jugglers secretly working multiple jobs. Many are boasting six-figure incomes and holding on to fully remote roles that have become extremely competitive in recent years. These people have used their extra earnings to pay off debt, plan for an early retirement, and take luxurious vacations. While some employers may be fine with their workers taking on another job, being caught doing so without approval could be a fireable offense.
Why he doesn't feel guilty about being overemployed
Even before he started looking for a second job, John said he had a friend who was overemployed, but that it always sounded like too much work. However, in 2021, when a former boss asked if he was looking for a new job, John reconsidered.
"I thought about my current workload, and I thought about what my new workload would be, and I figured I'd give it a shot," he said. "I'd save the extra money to buy a house, or go on a vacation, and fill up my retirement accounts for the aim of perhaps retiring early."
After starting his second job, John realized that he could juggle both roles without working more than 50 hours a week — he said his typical workday is 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A combination of luck and practice has helped John balance both jobs. For example, he said his teams' daily meetings luckily don't overlap, but that he's also become adept at completing his tasks ahead of schedule. Additionally, he said the skills he's learned in one job have sometimes helped him become more productive at his other job.
John said the closest he's come to getting caught was when he forgot to mute himself on a work call while he was speaking on another call for a different job.
"It was a brief call but enough for my boss to ask me about it," he said. "I just said it was a client."
Some critics have questioned the ethics of overemployment, saying workers shouldn't be doing work for one company when they're being paid by another.
John said he doesn't feel much guilt about his job juggling.
"The way I say it, each company pays me for the value I add, not just for time spent in my chair," he said. "As long as the company is happy with the work I produce for the money they pay me, I see nothing wrong."
Looking ahead, John said he planned to continue working both jobs for the foreseeable future.
While taking a third job would boost his income even further, he said he'd largely ruled out this option. That's because he already tried it twice over the last few years, only to soon realize that it wasn't sustainable.
"It became clear that I simply didn't have the bandwidth to focus on three things at once," he said.
Are you working multiple remote jobs at the same time and willing to provide details about your pay and schedule? If so, reach out to this reporter at [email protected].
