

How can I have a part-time job so I have time for my startup? - 0xAnonym

I've been freelancing but I realized that I need to put so much time and effort in my freelancing venture than in my startup (finding clients, paperwork, etc.).  So it's finally becoming a distraction.<p>As said in this thread (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=142239) it seems impossible to find a part-time programming job.  I've been thinking even about working part-time on a retail store or a restaurant, but I would prefer a job where I can exercise my programming skills.<p>Is it a better option to get a full time job for a year saving money, and then quitting and working full time on my startup?<p>Thanks.
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jacquesm
A long long time ago I was facing this exact problem, and I decided to go for
a non-programming part time job. I ended up delivering mail, and it was
actually quite well suited because:

\- it's a physical job, no brain power required so you can think about other
stuff while getting paid and nobody will care

\- it is not a job where you are irreplaceable, so if you call your boss and
ask for a day off (because you have to meet a customer, say) it usually is not
a problem

\- it won't take much to stand head and shoulders above your co-workers

\- if you take an early shift and indicate your preference for that you have
to be up at 5:30, on the job at 6 am but by 1 in the afternoon your shift will
be over, half a business day left!

\- using a cell phone and a headset you might even get away with keeping your
business running while you are working (this option, alas did not exist when I
was doing this)

Also, and this is probably quite important, if you ever need to fall back once
you have seen a period of full-time employment when you are doing well and
things are in the dump for a while chances are big they'd re-hire you on the
spot if you were any good at all.

good luck!

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aaronblohowiak
There are two dilemmas with part-time programming. 1) I suspect that most
employers prefer to attempt to extract all possible programming productivity
from their employees, and ask/expect them to work more than full-time (SV
startup bias,) so a part-time employee is really like a quarter or a third --
in management's eyes -- of a "fully dedicated" employee, and may not be worth
2) the worse overhead/productivity ratio of part-time programming.
Unfortunately, many organizations have high process overhead for the task of
programming. This may be comprised of meetings, email and so on. A part-timer
still has to be "kept in the loop", and the effort to do so does not scale
back linearly with the scaling back of time worked.

Have you minimized your expenses?

