How to moonlight at your full-time job
Tags: sideprojects, career, help, management
Published: 2022-07-19 04:30:12

The move to WFH has found many developers with an abundance of extra time in the day, some going to the extreme of working two full-time jobs. While we don't want to encourage you to get two full-time jobs, now is a great time to start building a portfolio by contracting out your services part-time. Whether you want to launch an agency in the future, help out some local businesses, gain extra income, learn new skills, pursue your passion, or just fight boredom, contracting has a lot of upside for those looking to do more. Consolo ([that's us!](https://dev.us12.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=e08bc63eba2534c069fdbb91f&id=ad3ecdc097)) was founded by developers for developers with the mission of making part-time contracting safe and easy. 

Even if you read through the long list of agreements buried under the compensation package that you signed when employed, there is a good chance that it wasn't very clear what you can legally do on top of your job. While we are not lawyers, we have had people just like you ask us questions about how certain agreements could affect their ability to contract their services out and most of them were surprised to learn they weren't forbidden from it! We wanted to highlight some of the common agreements we've seen and provide recommendations on how to start growing your brand while employed full-time.

1. **Duty of Loyalty** - Typically meant to make you disclose to your employer any activity you do for companies that are competitors. Normally, the Duty of Loyalty does not mean you need to disclose any work that isn't in competition with your employer. 

2. **Employee Invention Assignment** - Meant to assign any copyrightable work within the scope of your employment to the company, rather than you as an individual. This means you can't copy and paste code from work into your contract work. This can also protect your work unrelated to your full-time job from being claimed by your employer. Some states have further limits on what an employer can assign, for example in California if you work on something in your own time, without using your employer's equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secrets, it can't be assigned to the employer. The most important takeaway here is that if you are going to do contract work, do not use your work computer and do not do the work at your office. 

3. **Duty Not to Compete** - This is similar to the Duty of Loyalty, but can add a clause like "the Company requires my undivided attention and effort". Sometimes it specifies "during normal work hours" which is ambiguous in today's work from home but can generally be defined as an eight hour period between 6am and 8pm, Monday through Friday. The work hours can be different for everyone (unless there is an agreed upon time with your employer). Some employers are more strict here and require disclosure of any additional employment. While this doesn't necessarily prevent you from contracting on the side, it does mean you need to have a conversation with your employer before doing it. 

### Our tips for part-time contracting

Now that we've worked through some of the legal jargon, we've found some best practices to help smooth your journey into part-time contracting.

First, make sure you provide separation between the two jobs. That means use a personal laptop, use separate accounts/software licenses dedicated to your contract work (e.g. Github, VSCode, Photoshop, etc.), and do the work at home or a cafe. 

Second, don't be afraid to talk to your manager. While we haven't seen many contracts that completely forbid employees from contracting on the side, there are some that require disclosure. Even without the requirement it can provide a sense of security knowing that you've been cleared to do it. You want to ensure your manager that the contract work won't affect your performance at work, in fact it make you better at your job as your gain new skills through contracting.

Finally, start by working within your network. Chances are you've already been asked to help people out with small projects. Use those projects to help grow your portfolio and get used to running an agency. As your list of satisfied customers grows, they will share your information with their network, bringing in new business without needing to advertise. 

### About Consolo

At Consolo, we are building a turn-key solution to allow you to spin up your own online agency in minutes. 

Our Contract Builder is your legal department, allowing you to craft tailored, professional contracts in minutes that protect you and your clients.
 
Our Payment System works as your personal finance department, sending invoices and collecting payments from your clients. 

Our Client Dashboard provides you all the tools to stay on top of your projects, communicate asynchronously with your clients, and provide secure handoff of code and credentials.

If you're interested in being an early user of Consolo or learning more about contracting on the side, [**sign up for our waitlist and newsletter.**](https://dev.us12.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=e08bc63eba2534c069fdbb91f&id=ad3ecdc097)

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_No Legal Advice Intended. This blog is meant for informational purposes only._