^{This text initially appeared on Enterprise Insider.}

Tomas, a Georgia-based IT employee in his 30s, mentioned his journey to an “overemployed” way of life started at a really younger age.

He grew up “very poor,” he advised Enterprise Insider, and after his mom left his father, he, his mom, and 4 siblings shared a one-room residence for 2 years.

“As I acquired older I used to be like, ‘I do not wish to stay like that,” he mentioned.

In 2016, when Tomas had roughly $40,000 in bank card debt and was struggling to pay baby assist, he determined to search for a second distant job he might work on the sly. Two years later, job juggling had helped him repay his debt, however he wasn’t prepared to offer it up.

“I type of felt invincible, and it made me really feel like that shall be one much less factor I’ve to fret about in life,” mentioned Tomas, whose id is thought to BI however has been withheld resulting from his worry {of professional} repercussions.

To this present day, Tomas is secretly working two full-time distant jobs that pay over $250,000 a 12 months in mixed salaries, in response to paperwork considered by BI. Doing so has helped him develop his internet value to over $500,000, repay two new automobiles, journey extra, and discover “monetary stability and freedom,” he mentioned. Tomas added that he’d like to have a 3rd job if he can discover the appropriate match.

Tomas is amongst a small group of U.S. employees — many within the tech and IT industries — secretly holding a number of distant jobs. Working multiple job without delay could not violate federal or state legal guidelines, but it surely might breach some employment contracts and be a fireable offense if a employee is ever discovered.

As layoffs have unfold throughout the tech trade, Tomas mentioned the additional job safety that comes with overemployment has turn out to be much more necessary. He is even inspired some colleagues to search for second jobs and offered recommendation on pulling it off.

“Corporations will terminate you or lay you off with none discover in any respect,” he mentioned. “I now have the assumption that everybody ought to at all times maintain two jobs.”

Discovering the appropriate job for over-employment is not straightforward

Tomas has had a number of totally different stints as an overemployed employee.

Roughly a 12 months after he started his overemployment, he determined to take a break. He mentioned one in every of his jobs turned far more demanding and that he needed to regulate to the workload earlier than he took on a second job once more.

Moreover, all through this profession, Tomas has labored a mixture of full-time and contract jobs, and the latter have usually had an expiration date.

As pandemic fears have eased lately, Tomas mentioned he is additionally labored for corporations that required workers to return to the workplace. Given working remotely was key to his overemployment, he determined to half methods with these employers.

These job separations are the primary cause Tomas has had roughly seven totally different jobs since 2017. Whereas he is typically had not more than two jobs without delay, he mentioned there have been three to 4 months when he had three jobs — and one month when he had 4. All however one in every of his jobs had been distant — he mentioned versatile working hours enabled him to juggle a hybrid and distant function for some time.

At his peak, Tomas mentioned he earned near $400,000 throughout his jobs in a single 12 months.

4 items of recommendation for over-employed employees

Tomas has 4 solutions for folks within the over-employed way of life.

First: Know your job nicely so you’ll be able to full duties rapidly and dedicate time to your different jobs. Second: Work out which job has extra flexibility so you’ll be able to reschedule these conferences if want be. Third: To look consistently on-line for a job, do not depend on mouse jigglers — he mentioned he thinks some IT departments can determine when employees are utilizing the latter. Fourth: In case you assume your boss is suspicious of you, it is in all probability time to depart that job.

Tomas mentioned job juggling has been pretty straightforward in his two present roles. Each jobs have versatile hours, and his shifts begin at totally different occasions of the day — with solely three hours of overlap between them. He mentioned he is solely had one or two overlapping conferences which have required him to give you an excuse for lacking one in every of them.

However throughout a previous overemployment stint, Tomas mentioned he had a boss who appeared to suspect he was job juggling — asking questions like why he was on-line nicely previous working hours. When these questions did not go away, Tomas determined to depart the job.

Until he finds one job that pays him over $250,000 a 12 months, roughly his present mixed salaries, Tomas mentioned he has no plans to surrender his overemployment.

“I’ll maintain going so long as I can,” he mentioned, including, “The rewards positively outweigh the labor.”