Road to Overemployed? Next Career Steps…

[nicksaiz65]

Wanted to reach out again to get opinions on the next steps in my career…

Previously I made a thread about how my tech job was leaving me with no time. The main reason for this was I wasn’t actively scheduling my time, I was just using a simple to-do list. When I started scheduling everything and living out of the calendar like Cal Newport suggests, everything became so much easier and I have much more time. I don’t feel so overwhelmed. I’m not worried about the time management part of things, and I’ll still have time for myself.

I’ll quickly run through this again.. I work as a software engineer, as a government subcontractor. Yesterday I found out that my contract has been renewed until 2025. My salary is at $120,000 per year and I have a mountain of debt that I am still working to pay off. My goal is to become debt free, save a lot of money, and then ball.

The absolute fastest way to pay this debt off would be to have two tech jobs, get my salary into the $160,000-$200,000 range, and then chunk all that extra margin at the debt.

However, government jobs are not compatible with OE. I would need to quit my current job to do that, and work a non-government job. It’s very likely that that would cause me to take a temporary pay cut until I could land that second job. But after that, my income would skyrocket, and the debt would be gone super fast…

This has a high reward potential but it does seem a bit risky. With the state of the job market and my current debt, is this a smart proposition, to work towards OE and just deal with the pay cut? Or should I keep doing what I’m doing, keep working my government job, and continue to whittle down my debt?

 

[SW15]

You don't want to be overemployed. Overemployment does not lead to enough time for seduction. You work to live. You do not live to work.

The current private sector job market stinks. Keep your current job and re-evaluate in 2025.

 

[nicksaiz65]

You don't want to be overemployed. Overemployment does not lead to enough time for seduction. You work to live. You do not live to work.

The current private sector job market stinks. Keep your current job and re-evaluate in 2025.

Yes, the job market is horrible right now. This would make what I would be attempting a very big risk. Taking a pay cut is bad. Also, even if I were dead set on something like this, it would be better to do after having more savings to mitigate that risk.

The downside to staying is that I’ll be in debt longer. However, I’ll still be able to build my finances and live in a big city.

With my improved time management skills, a small side hustle like delivering pizzas or cooking would be ok, but nothing more than that(based on the logic in your argument.)

 

[SW15]

The downside to staying is that I’ll be in debt longer. However, I’ll still be able to build my finances and live in a big city.

You work to live. You need to be in a big city for your seduction goals.

With my improved time management skills, a small side hustle like delivering pizzas or cooking would be ok, but nothing more than that(based on the logic in your argument.)

You could deliver pizzas 1-2 days a week if you really wanted to do that. I think with the $120,000/year salary, your time would be better spent getting laid or upskilling independently in computer science.

 

[nicksaiz65]

You work to live. You need to be in a big city for your seduction goals.



You could deliver pizzas 1-2 days a week if you really wanted to do that. I think with the $120,000/year salary, your time would be better spent getting laid or upskilling independently in computer science.

I like the idea of a side hustle completely paying for my car note and car insurance, therefore letting me get out of debt and build my savings slightly faster since I can direct more of my income towards that.

I also really like the idea of that side hustle money(I could probably make around an extra $700/month) being something that goes straight to my financial future, that I don’t use for anything else. Tbh, it gives me more of a cushion and makes me feel much more stable with all these bills flying at me.

Is that worth 2 nights of my time a week though? Debatable. I imagine you would say no to that?

It also pisses me off that it’s going to take around 1.5-2 years to pay off all my debt, and I’m not spending money on travel and balling in that time. Looks like the traveling will have to wait until my early 30s.

 

[nicksaiz65]

You could deliver pizzas 1-2 days a week if you really wanted to do that. I think with the $120,000/year salary, your time would be better spent getting laid or upskilling independently in computer science.

Speaking to this point... I do think that the next step I should take is upskilling. It would be very advantageous for me to knock out my AWS Solutions Architect Associate and AWS Certified Developer Associate certifications this summer while I don't have a side job, because that makes me more valuable in the job market and puts me in a better position to get even higher paying jobs in the future. I also should go ahead and renew my Security Plus.

Plus, it might not be a bad idea to take a month and just upskill on general Computer Science things, and build stuff. This could be done while working a side job a couple days a week to eliminate that car note. Both my old boss and my new boss have commented that my Javascript needs work, so I think it would be a really good idea to brush up on my technical skills even if I'm not directly making money during that time. This would help with any future interviews as well.

 

[FlirtLife]

Most software engineering jobs pay a salary, not per hour. I imagine the percentage of salaried employees with two jobs is close to zero. It might be common among people paid minimum wage, but not for software engineers making six figures. If the statistics show almost nobody doing it, maybe your source for doing this isn't so trustworthy.

As I understand it, you want to risk holding two full-time salaried jobs at the same time. I doubt that is legal, because there are many conditions in an employment agreement that do not allow dual loyalties. They might even claim anything you create is owned by them - and two companies can't both get your work, and both require keeping their secrets. The ultimate test is what a lawyer thinks about two employment contracts, and how much trouble they estimate from doing this.

 

[FlirtLife]

A website claims the median household income is $80k for families aged 25-34. That might be combined incomes of $40k each, or one person earning $80k. If you're on a path far ahead of the median family, let alone individual income, you do not need to grasp at ways to increase income from $120k to $160k that may involve losing it all. Also, $160k is your claim/assumption - it is just an assumption on your part. Your $120k salary is what you have now through 2025 (congrats on the renewal).

I would again encourage you to view "high cost debt" differently than student loans. If you go from one extreme (credit card and other debt) to debt free, and then feel like you can spend wildly... I doubt you will stay debt free. Going from one extreme to another isn't stable, and I doubt it will last. You can try it and learn from it - maybe you need the experience to be convinced. I just predict that depriving yourself to go debt free, followed by unleashing your spending will lead you back into debt. That's why I suggest focusing on the credit card debt.

I'd favor habits that let you travel and pay down student debt. If you go from deprived to free spending, don't expect to remain debt free.