I used to get frustrated with the corporate world. I had clear financial goals and didn't want to spend my life comparing prices or waiting for discounts to buy what I wanted. In my job, it was almost impossible to get a real salary increase of 20 percent or more due to internal policies; you had to wait an entire year for a promotion.
I looked at my coworkers and thought, why should I work twice as hard as them for the same salary? Then a bold idea occurred to me: work at two companies at the same time and earn two salaries. I did it, and for six months I was a developer at two companies simultaneously. Here's what I learned.
The core idea and finding your minimum bar It's almost impossible to accurately measure a developer's performance, so you are the one who defines your own productivity threshold. If you start working at full speed in a new position, that becomes your new normal. My experiment was simple: what was the least amount of work I could do while keeping my boss satisfied? My minimum bar turned out to be about two hours of focused work per day for each job, and the managers were satisfied.
How to manage overemployment smartly It's not just about working less, but doing it wisely. I identified four pillars that made the difference. First, set up a feedback loop: regular one-on-one meetings with someone who sees your work and gives you honest feedback. At one of my companies, this was easy and helped me calibrate expectations. Second, find your minimum bar: reduce effort gradually until someone notices the drop. Third, keep a journal: writing down what you do every day and how you feel helps quantify real time and combat impostor syndrome. Fourth, choose the companies where you want to be carefully.
Choosing the right company You have to be demanding when selecting where to apply this strategy. Look for fully remote positions to avoid conflicts with in-person schedules. Prefer large teams with small responsibilities; at least five people on the team is usually a good sign. Find out about the meeting load during the interview: five-minute dailies are ideal compared to 40-minute meetings that consume time. Avoid greenfield startups if you want to minimize extra work and constant meetings.
The reality and the personal cost It was one of the most stressful periods of my life. I felt anxiety, was close to burnout, and my health suffered. You have to become a bit cynical and you lose part of the enjoyment of work. In my case, I ended up being discovered by the second company, Techies, because the mentor I asked for feedback from for months gathered information and shared it with my manager; there were tough meetings where I was accused of fraud and I finally resigned.
The irony is that at the other company, Allegro, everything was going well and they were even considering me for a promotion. That experience confirmed that choosing the right company is everything.
This strategy is not for everyone, nor is it a path to permanent passive income. It was a temporary boost that taught me a lot about efficiency, setting priorities, and the real value of my work.
What I learned that can help you Measure your value with data, seek frequent feedback, plan high-impact tasks for the few focused hours you have, and protect your mental health. If you decide to try something similar, do it ethically and being aware of the professional and personal risk.
About Q2BSTUDIO and how we can help you At Q2BSTUDIO, we are a software development company specialized in custom applications and custom software for companies that need to scale without sacrificing productivity. We offer artificial intelligence solutions and AI for businesses, AI agents to automate processes, and cybersecurity services to protect data and operations. We also provide AWS and Azure cloud services, business intelligence services, and Power BI projects to transform data into actionable decisions.
If your goal is to improve efficiency, reduce operational burden, and gain real insight into your business, at Q2BSTUDIO we design custom applications and integrations based on artificial intelligence that optimize processes and avoid bottlenecks that generate work overload. Our experience in cybersecurity and AWS and Azure cloud platforms ensures that solutions are secure and scalable.
I learned a lot working two jobs at once, and that experience allowed me to better understand how technology can redistribute human effort toward higher-value tasks. If you are looking for advice on how to apply artificial intelligence, AI agents, business intelligence services, or Power BI to improve your team's productivity, contact Q2BSTUDIO and let's talk about a custom solution for your company.
If you want to know all the details of the experiment, how I handled conflicting meetings, and the full story of how I was discovered, I have material where I explain it. Beyond the anecdote, the important thing is to leverage technology and process design to work better and with more purpose.
