I know that many PMs are super busy with meetings but currently at a job that is doesn’t really have a meeting culture, and I can get a lot of work done with extra cycles. Curious if anyone has done the overemployed thing as a PM.
10 Likes
Two PM jobs simultaneously? No.
=Two jobs as a single PM? Daily.
9 Likes
No kidding! Sounds like a dream job to not be overloaded. If you’re in a company with little to do, you’re limiting your growth.
8 Likes
Probably possible with some of the “bad” PM jobs where you’re more a project manager running status update meetings.
7 Likes
If so I’d like to shake their hand and buy them a beer. As it is with one job I barely see my husband some days and daydream about quitting and going back to being a sales manager when I used to have free time.
7 Likes
I’m not sure how you do the job without 30hours of meetings per week minimum. Ceremonies, discovery, interviews, readouts, stakeholders.
I did this for a month. My old company wanted to pay me for a month “just in case” they had questions. So, double salary for a month. IT WAS NOT WORTH IT.
7 Likes
@RobMartin, Those are the worst, “Just in case we need something” aka WE WILL CALL YOU ALL THE FN TIME 
6 Likes
Yep - did this. Could not keep up at all. I do still “run” some reports for the old company every month for about $1k/month. But they’re basically automatic. I just update a spreadsheet for an hour a week.
6 Likes
This isn’t a joke.
I head product for an ecommerce firm with over 1 million users + have a 20 hours/week side gig with a VC + building my own product for the last 2 years with 3 full time folks whose salary i pay.
TBH: I have every kind of social and mental issues, you could think of. This isnt healthy at all. I barely remember anything and i am unable to hold any conversation out of work at this point. I do that to keep my own product up and running until it sees some light of the day.
5 Likes
@Naomi, maybe it’s time to drop one of your ventures? People get health problems from circumstances like this. Is it worth continuing on like this?
In what space is your product?
5 Likes
It’s a contact app which is more contextual and lets you do more than adding, viewing and being a phone number in a directory.
5 Likes
I have! I went full time with both as well. My schedule would run normal business hours (9-5) and then for the other job from 5-9 with 10 hours on each Saturday and Sunday. The developers in that second position were all overseas. So, all of our schedules aligned. I would eat and write up Jira stories and then head to bed. When I woke up, answer questions for job two, workout, then go back to job one.
It was cool! Honestly I was antsy to get more PM experience and needed the money to pay off my house. I recently left job two because of some life changes and I’ve met someone that is amazing and wanted to put time towards the relationship. I appreciated the opportunity and experience.
3 Likes
@Karan, Could you share more tips of your success? Anything is helpful…
4 Likes
Honestly, a big part of it came down to sacrifice. Am I willing to do all this work and do I have the time/balance with other things I want to do? That led to some difficult decisions.
Some other tips: I would keep two separate Google drives where I would import notes to daily so I never crossed/confused both jobs. I would always get at least 8 hours of sleep and one hour of exercise to stay sane. I chose two industries that I was passionate about to avoid burnout as quickly as possible. I would choose only Scrum opportunities as I’m very strong with Agile Scrum and know it like the back of my hand. That avoids confusion as well. Know those personas well and build cards so you can flip quickly between both positions. Keep your house clean and nice smelling since you’ll be spending so much time in it lol.
3 Likes
I used to run a separate side hustle (20 hours a week max) in addition to my PM job and that was near my limit. Hell even just my current PM job gets me past my limit some weeks. Can’t see anyone doing two PM jobs… Unless it’s two PM jobs at a government like company.
Or maybe I’m just getting older… Haha…
3 Likes
You’re not getting older. It’s pretty much impossible if it’s 2x Product Management. Product + anything else if part time is doable, but would depend on the person’s ability to manage time.
2 Likes
At one point I held 5 remote jobs, it was insane, my personal life took a dump and my relationship almost went to hell.
But yeah, I currently hold 2 pm jobs, I think 2 it’s the best balance overall, find 2 companies working on different time zones (PST vs EST or similar) and yeah, you’ll probably work like 10-14 hours daily but it is doable.
1 Like
@AnaRodriguez, Why? Money? Experience? Good old workaholism? What is the long term plan, curious.
1 Like
@AhmadBashir, Money and experience at a super ultra fast rate, being a first time mom, anxiety went to the roof and though money could solve everything…
1 Like
I see. Thanks for your reply. Notice you “thought money could solve everything.” Change of opinion? For me, while I realize the necessity of financial security, I still fall well within the camp of quality time being the investment with the greatest dividends. I could be wrong.
Kudos. Whether it’s time or material needs, good for you stepping up to the plate as a Mom.