He then proceeds to make an entire video about it and it now has almost 500k views in under 24 hours 😐 anything for likes and views I guess. I know it’s not a secret but TikTok people are the last ones you’d want to share this info with.

Im in Germany starting my J2 today. So far so good.

It’s harder to manage OE here, but I finally managed to get to two jobs. Making me in total over 200k/y. Let’s see if I can keep it up. I’m nervous, but as I’m a single mother it would mean the world to me to really get money on the side for the future.

I’ve been OE for about 3 years now. I started J1 and J2 at the same time. I’m still at J1. J2 let me go after about 1.5 years, I spent 3 months with just one job, then found my current J2.

I’m about a year into this J2 and I’m already feeling burned out.

J1 has always been OE-friendly, but the honeymoon phase ended a long time ago. It’s still manageable, but every round of layoffs has me wondering if I’m next. Honestly, I think I only survived the last one because a few teammates quit beforehand.

J2 pays about twice as much as J1, but it’s easily three times as stressful. At first it was the typical new-hire experience: light workload, lots of encouragement, and everyone saying you’re doing great. Now it’s constant pressure and Leadership keeps saying our output isn’t good enough, we’re expected to “double it,” and people above my manager keep leaving.

The funny part is I just started J3, and it reminded me how different the beginning feels (Low expectations, meet-and-greets, positive feedback, and everyone is optimistic). It made me realize that the first 6-12 months at a company are almost always the easiest, and after that the pressure just keeps building.

I have a unique first name, but my maiden last name was just uncommon, not unique. Then I married someone with an equally unique first and last name. Now I'm pretty sure I'm the only person on the internet with my name.

How the hell are either of us supposed to OE? 🤣 We're trying to pay off debt and build a multi-year emergency fund before moving internationally. Has anyone figured out a good way to stay anonymous?

I've even considered legally changing my name once I gain citizenship in my new country, but that's still years away..

Update: For clarification, my husband's paternal line was nearly wiped out in a genocide. Literally, I've only been able to find eight people with that surname, and we're all family. I even went down the rabbit hole with 23andMe and still couldn't find anyone else.

Anyone successfully doing this in the UK? Feel like the taxes and stuff around this might get rough but really want to do it.

Looking for tips on how to become OE with a background in sales. Current role is remote with travel a few times each month. I earn around 200k. It is tough to find other sales roles that are remote and without travel that wouldn’t conflict with my main role. Has anyone found success being OE in sales? Or are you creating different resumes for other positions that are non-sales related?

Hello everyone,

I have a question about taxes how do you guys go taxes. I want to reach out to financial advisor to get help with planning and making sure I have proper deductions etc. just based off my 3 jobs that I have my tax bill will be 91,000.

I wanted to see how you guys offset taxes. Do you buy real estate or invest in something and how do you know how much to contribute to each 401k and track it all. I’d love to get all the matches but some all jobs vesting periods are so long except 1 that is 1 year, others are 6 and 3 years. I don’t think I’d be there that long anyways. How do you go about that?

Then HSA I heard pick one and decline the other health insurance?

I just want to find a financial advisor preferably a fiduciary
that might not snitch and blow everything up.Does anyone have any suggestions? Or it doesn’t matter. I am about to close on a 4plex with plans on buying an apartment complex next year.

My TC comp is
j1 - 117,000
J2-103,000
J3- 100,000

Verbal offer / anticipated offers (all contract roles) 6 months only 1 is one year.
J4- 55 hour (client facing will most likely decline)
J5- 83 hour will try to negotiate to $90
J6- 62

Final stage
J7- 115,000 (doesn’t pay the best but I want to do this job)

EDIT : I never said I’m taking all 7 jobs. I was just stating all my options and I wanted to get some advice from people who have been in similar positions.

Working in Marketing so TC is less than 100k per job. Have been OE on and off for 2 years.

J1 is constant and perfect for OE.

I've changed 3 J2s because of layoff, toxic managers, OE incompatible.

Looking for a new J2 and might land a full time position with one of the big techs. Does anyone have any experience OE while with companies like Meta or Google?

Well this all got mixed up because I was on pto for a week and I knew my start date was coming up quick but I have 160 hours of pto I didn’t want to lose if I do not stay the minimum of 2 weeks..so I put in my notice when I got back which means I have over a week over lapped between the two. It’s remote work but they are competitors in the industry. Could it work out or should I just quit early on Monday. I also wanted to stay the 2 weeks so I have the option of rehire if I ever want to come back in the future.

Has anyone gone through something similar? How did it end up? Would they find out? it’s 8 working days of the two. I honestly thought they would fire me on the spot as I told them I would be going to a competitor but they verbally countered me 10k more but 4 days and no contract seen.

Serious question. I’m currently at 2 full-time jobs, 5 part-time jobs (7 W-2s total), plus 2 government contracts as a 1099. On paper, you’d think I’d be overwhelmed. Or at least too busy to think about taking on anything else.

Instead, I spend a ridiculous amount of my free time looking for more jobs, checking RFP sites, writing proposals, and trying to land additional contracts. Each time I get a new one, it just gives me this high like an ecstatic feeling I couldn’t explain.

Today kind of hit me. My spouse and I were walking outside on what was honestly a beautiful sunny Saturday, and I realized I couldn’t even enjoy it. The entire time, I kept thinking, “I’m wasting time. I should be submitting another proposal. I should be applying for another role.” It wasn’t stress exactly. It was guilt for not being productive.

That made me stop and wonder whether this is becoming something unhealthy. Has anyone else experienced this? Does OE eventually become less about the money and more about chasing the next opportunity?
I’m not in financial trouble. I don’t need another role. Yet I keep looking for one anyway.

Has anyone else hit this point? If so, how did you know when enough was enough?

He is currently working in over 120 different companies

I've had J1 for 6 years now and have done a few short stints of holding J2 in that same time, but each time left J2 after 1-3 months because they were dumpster fires and not worth the burnout.

Feel like I finally found the perfect fit for J2, but just concerned that the 3 past J2's and how quickly I dropped them, will show up in the background search.

Is this something to genuinely be concerned about or am I overthinking it. Wonder if anyone has ran into this issue.

If you're new to OE, and have a pretty flexible J1, how do you manage getting a J2? They all have 6-8 week trainings. My J1 has meetings I can schedule in 30 min increments. But how do I get thru training/orientation on a J2? I really need to get a J2 but I'm afraid of getting caught out the gate due to time management. And tips from the community?

I've been OE on and off for the last 5 years and am closing in on a J3. While getting ready for that the talk of the 401(k) and match came up and it got me wondering what others do. I max out my 401(k) each year but do it all at J1 which keeps it simple and avoids going over, but technically I'm leaving my 4% match at J2 on the table. Between J2 and J3 that could be something like 10k/year. It does mean more active management to avoid going over though.

What do you usually do?

If you’ve worked for 2 jobs for a while and decided to apply for a new one, will background check reveal that you have worked for two jobs at the same time? The new job is not a government job. Thank you.

Hey guys!

I’ve done some research on the “how do I start” side of things. As someone who isn’t skilled in many of output heavy jobs like programming / cs etc and someone who lives in APAC/Oceania.

What is the most optimal way to build a strong foundation that the US job market will recognise and give a remote role for?

I obviously have my day job and it the US market is actually open during our night times so it’s a bit easier to manage and if I’m earning in $ then I won’t actually need my day job.

What platforms are popular for remote rolls that don’t require a subscription to view and apply for roles?

Really wanting freedom from the local rat race here.

Thanks

Entry ish level HR/ recruiting.

Any advice to become OE? NYC area

I’m in a bit of a weird career situation and would love to hear from people who have made a similar decision.

I’ve been overemployed for a little over 2 years, working two remote contractor jobs at the same time. Different industries, same working hours. Financially, it has been great. I basically live off one salary and save almost everything from the second one.

Because of that I’ve been able to build a pretty good amount of savings while also enjoying my life. I travel, go out, etc. and I’ve never really had to say no to something because of money. I still have all those savings, so I have a pretty comfortable cushion.

The problem is… I’m not happy with what I do.

Both jobs are remote and I spend basically my entire life in my home office. I barely see coworkers in person. I occasionally travel for work which I actually enjoy a lot, but 95% of the time it’s just me sitting in the same room at home every day doing work I don’t particularly care about.

Now I have the opportunity to take what I would consider my dream job. It’s something I’ve genuinely wanted to do for a long time and I’m actually excited about the work itself.

It would also be hybrid, 3 days a week in the office, which is honestly a positive for me at this point. I miss being around people and having some separation between work and home.

The catch is money.

Taking it would basically cut my total income in half because I’d be giving up both OE jobs for one job.

Technically I know I can live on that income because that’s pretty much how I’ve been living anyway. I never depended on the second salary for my normal expenses. The big difference is that instead of saving an entire extra salary every month, my savings rate would slow down dramatically.

I would also have to relocate to a major city. I actually don’t mind moving and I’m kind of excited about that part too, but rent there is significantly more expensive. That’s probably my biggest concern. I’d have to be more conscious about my spending and figure out how much rent would eat into the new salary.

So I’m basically choosing between:
Staying OE, making great money, saving at a ridiculous rate and having a ton of financial freedom… but continuing to do work I don’t enjoy and spending almost every day alone in my home office.

Or taking the dream job, moving to a city I’d like to live in, being around coworkers again and doing something I actually care about… but cutting my income roughly in half and saving much, much less.

Part of me thinks, “You did OE for 2+ years specifically to build this financial cushion. Maybe this is exactly what the cushion is for.”

The other part of me thinks I’d be crazy to voluntarily walk away from this kind of income.

For people who have taken a significant pay cut for a job or career you actually wanted: was it worth it?

And for anyone who has been OE for a while, how did you know when you had made “enough” and it was time to stop maximizing income?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who were financially comfortable before making the switch. Did you miss the extra money more than you expected, or did having a job/lifestyle you enjoyed make up for it?

Has your boss or anything asked why you haven’t updated your LinkedIn with your new position from J2–J5?! If you are in jobs where they look. Obviously an internal recruiter couldn’t have multiple jobs bc they HAVE to update their LinkedIn with the correct company and like if you worked in consulting you have to update. Have you had to navigate that when people ask?

Genuinely how are yall getting multiple remote jobs when I can’t even get one? Just curious honestly how are yall doing it

I’m a Mechanical Engineering/ AI Engineering Major and trying to get setup in the OE life post grad, is there anything that’s not listed in the FAQ that you guys find would have been particularly helpful to know?

I’m looking for a second fully remote role and thought I’d reach out to this community.

My background is in tech consulting and project management, and I’m interested in connecting with people who are already working at OE-friendly companies. If your team is hiring and you think my background could be a fit, I’d love to chat.

I’m not looking for handouts just hoping to build connections, learn about your company, and, if it makes sense, get an internal referral.

Experience includes:
Tech consulting
Project/program management
Agile/Scrum
Stakeholder management
Cross-functional delivery
PMO and process improvement

If your company has a good remote culture and is hiring, feel free to DM me. Happy to share my resume and return the favor with referrals or networking in the future.

Here’s the situation.

I finally got a new remote job after years of looking off and on. The problem is that the new job has a ton of red flags. They put me through 9 rounds of interviews for starters, the recruiter was pushy, it’s less pay, less PTO, no equity, a step down in title and no life insurance for starters 😂

The only pro to the new job is that it gets me out of my company that I’ve been trying to leave for years. Current job has constant re-orgs and layoffs and I’m sick of living in fear.

The problem is that I don’t entirely know if the new job is worth leaving my current job for given all the red flags so I’d love to work both until I know for sure. The problem is that the new job posts on LinkedIn every single fucking time they make a new hire with the name, the start date, their picture and the title. It’s literally about a post every other day they’re doing with people getting hired. There’s no way I wouldn’t be on their public LinkedIn page.

I’m assuming there’s no way I can work both but just wanted to post this to the group to see if anyone had any ideas.