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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.

5 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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...

  5. 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.

    --
    "Oh no... he found the .sig setting."