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When Your Day Job Isn't Enough (wsj.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: A lot of people are pursuing creative side gigs while they hold down big office jobs. It used to be that many had to choose between their creative aspirations and their commitment to a corporate career, but in the era of the side hustle some manage to do both [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled]. [...] Doing both comes with trade-offs and tensions. Unlike the aspiring actor waiting tables to pay the bills, true dual professionals have to balance the demands of both their aspirations, and often face a moment of reckoning where they are forced to sacrifice a step forward in one career path for job stability and financial security in the other.
The two worlds of Theresa Vu -- also known as the rapper tvu -- often collide. As senior vice president of engineering at New York software firm AppNexus, Ms. Vu runs a team of coders who work on a digital advertising platform. As a vocalist with the band Magnetic North, she rhymes and drops beats, and helped propel the band's "Home: Word" album to No. 2 on the Japanese hip-hop chart.
The two worlds of Theresa Vu -- also known as the rapper tvu -- often collide. As senior vice president of engineering at New York software firm AppNexus, Ms. Vu runs a team of coders who work on a digital advertising platform. As a vocalist with the band Magnetic North, she rhymes and drops beats, and helped propel the band's "Home: Word" album to No. 2 on the Japanese hip-hop chart.
IT / coders need an UNION!
Baizuo:
Chinese: báizu, literally "white left") is a derogatory Chinese neologism used to refer to Western leftist liberal elites. It refers to the left faction in the culture wars in Western politics,[original research?] implying support of multiculturalism, political correctness and positive discrimination. In more than 400 answers submitted by Zhihu users during 2015 to May 2017, the term is defined as referring to those who are hypocritically "obsessed with political correctness" in order to "satisfy their own feeling of moral superiority" motivated from an "ignorant and arrogant" Western-centric worldview who "pity the rest of the world and think they are saviours". A related term is shèngm (, , literally "holy mother", title for the mother of an emperor), a sarcastic reference to those whose political opinions are guided by emotions and a hypocritical show of selflessness and empathy, represented by celebrities such as J. K. Rowling and Emma Watson.
Damn. When the Chinese create a word to make fun of you, you're pretty damn pathetic.
If you want health insurance that you can afford, getting it through your employer is the only way. And if your employer/gig doesn't offer it, good luck on the exchange - especially if you live in a Medicaid non-expansion state. And if the Republicans keep their control after the mid-terms, say good-bye to Obamacare and the law against insurance companies turning down coverage for pre-existing conditions.
That's why like every other western country, we need some sort of public option for everyone.
And retirement - having a company that will match really helps building up a retirement. And with Mitch McConnell and other Republicans saying that the entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare are causing the huge deficit and increase in government debt, you just know they're gonna cut it.
And real jobs want you 24/7 these days so a second gig is just not practical. Unless you don't want to sleep, exercise, or have any down time.
in gop 2020 jail / ER will be the public option!
I once knew someone who was an external auditor for a big-eight accounting firm by day, and a jazz saxophonist at night. Sleep always was an optional extra, but the moment of reckoning came when the travel requirements of the accounting firm and jazz band diverged. Accounting, being much more stable and lucrative, won out.
You're as curious about Japanese Hip-hop's #1 as I am : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu5G443dQ4A
What the fuck is WRONG with these people?
>> it used to be that many had to choose between their creative aspirations and their commitment to a corporate career
No, people who work for a living and then play/sing in some crappy band has always been a thing. Always.
>> As a vocalist with the band Magnetic North, she rhymes and drops beats
Cha 13, Int 14, Wis 8
A Union would simply interfere with the ability to make gainful additional employment when you're not the type of person obsessed with TV and sports.
If you're the type of person that needs "protection" to not be fired, you're probably the type of person that needs to be fired.
Unions make sense in highly physically demanding jobs where cutting corners could literally get you killed.
They don't make sense in desk jobs. If you don't like your job, get better at it and find another one.
Work Safe Porn
I have a day job in IT and have a photography business primarily for evenings and weekends. (Weekends for shoots and evenings to retouch photos and manage the business.) I typically burn up about half my vacation each year covering events for which I sell the photos. I love my photography work; I tolerate my IT work.
The photography business pays for itself, barely. I make enough money to pay for equipment, maintenance and repair, and the website where I sell my photos. I have a fantasy of supporting myself on photography when I retire from IT. But I don't know how realistic that really is.
I don't sleep much. Watching TV is a special treat, not a nightly occurrence.
I often ask myself why do I do it? Working two jobs is definitely not making me rich. Things would be so much easier if I could work a regular job, go home and watch TV for a couple hours, and then get a good night's sleep. Spend my vacation at some resort ogling the beach bunnies instead of out in a field trying not to step in horse poo.
But then I look at photos of breathtaking scenes and heartbreakingly beautiful women (I don't call them "breathtaking photos" because that seems arrogant) and it all seems worth it.
So I think the answer is, there's things you have to make the effort to do, or learn to live with the regret. I've chosen to make the effort.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Sometimes I throw on a dress and head down to the wharf. I can meet a few sailors and collect a few dollars on the side. It's good honest work...
I worked a full day time job behind a desk as an engineer. By night I was a fabricator/welder at a race shop. I enjoy engineering, but I wasn't satisfied with what I was doing and losing my mind not making things with my hands anymore. Since I grew up around racing it was a natural fit.
Before my wife had a serious talk with me, I was doing at least 12 hours and growing on weekdays, a full day Saturday, and helping at races on Sundays some weekends. Truth be told, I was eating it up. I don't do well sitting around. But in the balance of priorities it had to go.
I've since switched to metal working (machining, welding, scraping, etc) in my garage at home. Lets me get out some of the desires, but a more sane pace...
Most people who have second jobs don't do it to be 'creative', they're doing it because employers are screwing everyone over and the price of everything keeps going up and up regardless. You try to explain to them that what you were paid 4 or 5 years ago isn't going anywhere near as far today as it did then, and you get a blank stare. It's not right.
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IT is an essential need that's constantly getting screwed by C-level decision-making reducing benefits, lengthening hours and generally ensuring we're moving closer to wage-slavery with each passing month.
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You sound like the kind of person I'd LOVE to work with!
Looking for a job?
When Uber started advertising "Side Hustle", as if working 24 hours a day at two or three jobs was sorta cool.
It's not.
This has been going on since jobs were invented. It continues to amuse me how often tech workers think they pioneered most of the shit they're doing.