How to talk to your secretly 'overemployed' friends
- There's a secret world of "overemployed" people who are holding down multiple high-paying jobs.
- One person told Business Insider they worked remotely for Tinder, Meta, and IBM at the same time.
Business Insider's Aki Ito talked to a man who had managed to get remote jobs as a software engineer at IBM, Tinder, and Meta — all at the same time, with his employers totally clueless about it.
Sounds exhausting, but hard to argue with the numbers: combined, he was making over $820,000 a year.
This man was part of a group of the "overemployed." Taking on multiple jobs to make ends meet isn't new, but these are professionals, often making large salaries, who are making hay in the remote work sunshine.
Most online groups eventually make their own arcane — and nearly indecipherable to oustiders — set of lingo and acronyms. Facebook mom groups talk about DH (dear husband) or LO (little one, or kid); and on looksmaxxing TikTok they talk about mogging (being more handsome than someone else). Over on the subreddit r/overemployed, another vernacular has emerged. Here's that lingo:
OE: overemployed, or holding multiple jobs
J1: job 1, or your main job that you care most about and prioritize
J2, J3, etc: job 2, job 3 — ranked in order of which ones you get done first and want to retain
Minecraft server: a job (as in having multiple Minecraft servers)
TC: total compensation
HPW: hours per week worked on each job
RJ: remote job
Lifestyle creep: when you start to get so used to spending the extra money from your multiple jobs — and upgrading your lifestyle — that you feel like you can't go back to just one salary
FIRE: financial independence, retire early (a lifestyle of saving and investing enough to retire early)
TWN: The Work Number, a database from Equifax that employers use on a background check to see your past employment records. Similar to your credit record, you can request to freeze it to help keep up your ruse.
Mouse jiggler: a device that literally keeps your mouse moving to keep your computer awake
There you go, now you're ready to join the ranks of the jobsmaxxers!