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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.

16 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. IT / coders need an UNION! by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    IT / coders need an UNION!

  2. When you're a aizuo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  3. Health insurance, retirement..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Health insurance, retirement..... by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If you want health insurance that you can afford, getting it through your employer is the only way.

      Not in Canada, or any other First World nation.

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      -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  4. in gop 2020 jail / ER will be the public option! by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 3, Funny

    in gop 2020 jail / ER will be the public option!

  5. No. 2 on the Japanese hip-hop chart, dame desu by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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?

  6. Weekend band by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    >> 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

  7. No by KalvinB · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The only way to have this viewpoint is to be wholly, malignantly ignorant with regards to US labor history.

    2. Re:No by Pascoea · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I am 100% pro union. My family is at least three-generations deep in the Boilermakers and Electricians trades. I personally didn't join, but ended up managing union projects. Unions currently have their place, and have proven countless times that they are beneficial.

      Their place is exactly where you described it. Physically demanding, skilled, and dangerous work that requires significant safety (and skills) training. The part you missed, is transient work. This is where unions are currently proving their benefit. If I have a project that requires 200 (or 1000) skilled people to complete, in somewhere like North Dakota, the unions generally have the ability to provide those workers. And for the most part I know that I'm going to get people who know what they are doing, and can get it done safely. Non-union shops are starting to catch up, but they have a long way to go in this respect

      The thing with IT? For the most part, it doesn't check those boxes above. It's not physically demanding, safety training is just about nil, and it's not transient. And in the current market, if you're not happy with your job you can leave and find a new one. I don't want my work life dictated by a union. And I sure as hell don't want to cough up 2% of my salary to pay them to do it.

      TLDR; Unions have their place, but it's not in IT

    3. Re:No by painandgreed · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They don't make sense in desk jobs. If you don't like your job, get better at it and find another one.

      Bullshit. It's all about trying to protect yourself from bad management. Our IT group tried unionization. It was led by the two ex-military Rush Limbaugh listening Republicans because they were the ones that our boss wanted to show up early and stay late, and cancel their scheduled family vacations at the last minute to suit the manager's whim. And those were just the straws that broke the camels back so to speak. They had do a good job, like their jobs, were here before the manager, and didn't want their retirement messed up by leaving. Luckily the manager was forced out, not because of all the numerous work violations he committed which were reported to HR, but because he made enemies of other management. Once he was gone, there was no more need for unionization as the next manager was decent. Talking with the older managers that do work over the unionized staff, it was the same case that caused their unionization. too much of managers expecting people to jump just because they say so instead of having clear rules for people to do their work. Even the managers who caused the issues said that things work so much better under the unions who forced those rules to be made, than they'd never go back to the way things were.

  8. I'm like every other guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    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...

  9. How sad is it we need 'side hustles' to survive? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  10. Interested in a job? by raymorris · · Score: 3, Funny

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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?

  11. Re:I often wonder what I'm doing... by PsychoSlashDot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Working two jobs is definitely not making me rich.

    From your description, you're not working two jobs. You have a job, and you have a hobby that pays its own expenses. That's totally legit, and a choice, and it's great that you get to do that.

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    "Oh no... he found the .sig setting."
  12. Re:I often wonder what I'm doing... by Kjella · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From your description, you're not working two jobs. You have a job, and you have a hobby that pays its own expenses. That's totally legit, and a choice, and it's great that you get to do that.

    I think that's a rather unfair characterization of amateurs who doesn't make enough money to quit their day job but who's really trying to go pro. It's highly unlikely that anyone will hire a photographer at professional rates without a good portfolio, practically nobody jumps from not getting paid at all to a living wage. If he's just doing the gigs he wants with the income as a bonus that's a hobby. If he's genuinely trying to make a profit it's a business, even if it's not very successful yet. I mean most photographers don't get paid at all...

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    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings