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Every contractor at my startup has a full-time job that they're seeking paths of escape or diversification from.

• PragmaticPulp 5y ago
  Full-time employees who double as hourly contractors are a difficult balance. Generally, if they were seeking to escapes their full time job they’d quit and do more contracting. It’s tempting to try to capture the best of both worlds: A full time job with benefits and steady pay where they work on minimizing their workload, combined with hourly contracting work where they focus their efforts to capture those extra contracting paychecks. It works for a while when things are slow at work and the contracting effort is fun and new, but eventually they start cutting corners in one or both areas to avoid burnout. If they really want to contract, they’ll go that route. However, it’s common to simply realize how low-stress and predictable a full time job is and just stick with that. I’ve done freelance work on the side in the past. It’s a difficult balance. I’ve also had employees who tried to contract on the side, usually with an associated decline in day job output. The worst case is when someone goes all-in on contracting but tries to keep their day job paychecks as long as possible, doing the bare minimum to delay getting fired for as long as they can get away with. That situation is miserable for their teammates and coworkers.
  • atatatat 5y ago
    Do paid tasks, not hourly. Hourly work, as a whole, is desirable for slow, inefficient people.