Are there any legal or career consequences? Will multiple jobs show up on a background check?
I had a mentor once tell me that when developers take more than one full time contract at the same time, the only thing they have is two unhappy clients. If you were really industrious I could see you working a full time job and doing part time contract work after hours. Anymore more than that, you are just scamming the people paying you in my opinion. Also, it's a small world out there, tarnished reputations have a hard time finding good work.
>legal consequences
Not sure on this one. I don't know if it could be classified as criminal fraud or not, but you should be careful. The criminal justice system in the US certainly favors companies. Also, in the US anyone can sue anyone else for any reason in civil court. Legal defenses aren't cheap and companies have deep pockets.
Career consequence... well, I've had people work on my team before who clearly were working multiple jobs. They were not fooling us. But they got enough of the job done to be worth what we paid them, so we did not call them out on it. That being said, they were the first against the wall when the revolution came.
More important are trade secret issues. These are treated very seriously and can result in criminal penalties. So be super careful here - though different industries certainly help.
Not sure about the carrier consequences. Don't put overlapping jobs in your resume and make sure all your employers are satisfied. Quit some of your jobs if you're overwhelmed.
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The bosses liked him. He got a ton of work done.
The only thing I don't like is that people might feel scammed. If they know what you're doing there is no issue at all.
Regardless intent is a major aspect of ethics. If you told any one of your employers you have multiple other "full time" jobs, you'd be instantly fired. You know this. Therefore what you're doing is deceptive at best but more realistically you're blatantly scamming your employers.
Short term you'll make a lot of money, long term you're picking up pennies in front of a bull dozer.
If you an IC, getting the work done and your employers are happy, then good luck to you.
If your not pulling your weight, then likely you're putting work/stress on to others.
I suspect despite thinking your just doing your job, getting your tasks done etc, you're not really contributing in the spirit of what is asked, expected and what your have been entrusted to do. Perhaps the roles you have taken are very transactional (Jira ticket monkey) and you are expected just to do basic tasks and not contribute beyond explicit tasks, however in the many companies I've worked in the last 25 years that has almost never been the case. As a hiring manager I would likely feel you had betrayed my trust, and had taken the place of someone who could have contributed more.
Also personally I found that the money wasn’t really worth it. I somehow just increased my cost of living and spent it all. Your mileage may vary.
To answer your original question—- the consequences probably won’t come from the employers, they will shake out in more subtle ways.
With that setup, I guarantee you aren’t objectively “good” at any of those jobs, even if your dozing managers think you are.
Creating things is about passion, and about thinking deeply about the problems you’re solving. You, like me, probably started coding for fun, because you enjoyed solving problems. Every day you context switch and de/reengage from the problems you’re solving, you miss that. Find a single problem and environment that challenges you, and I guarantee you’ll be happier, more successful, and less liable.
Legally, since you wrote SWE, then you should look up "Trolöshet mot huvudman" https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trol%C3%B6shet_mot_huvudman
If you have signed any NDA's or contracts, you should have read through them as it specifically says you are not allowed to work for any competitor or do competitive freelance work. If you ahve any side businesses they generally ahve to be approved by the Business Ethics department of the company legal team, and approved by your manager as not intruding in to your daily workload or competing with your job.
So you'd be pretty much fucked if they find out. At best you are fired. At worst you are looking at a legal suit, possibly even criminal suit if they decided to say that you stole company confidential information and provided to the other company.
Once that is done, it doesn't matter if they win or not, you'll be paying through the nose legal fees, and no one will ever hire you again in the business.
but hey if you can get away with it, there is money to be earned.
Though on a personal level, consider your mental health as well. How long are you able to keep up the charade? How will the stress affect you long term?
- I live and work in the USA
- All roles are individual contributor roles ranging from Senior to Staff
- I work for one publicly traded company and do not purchase any of their stock in personal accounts