Balancing Several Full-Time IT Jobs: Is It Okay, How to Spot It, and What to Do

ITExpert team15.10.2025

Two Jobs: Double the Pay or Double the Workload and Missed Deadlines?
More projects — more opportunities, or just more stress and less sleep?
Multitasking — a superpower or the fastest road to burnout?

More and more stories are surfacing about IT professionals who “juggle” multiple full-time jobs. For some, it works out. For others, it lands them on the “do-not-hire” list quickly.

So, let’s hear from the experts: Is it possible to effectively combine two full-time positions? What red flags should alert you to a candidate doing this? And what should you do if your teammate is already playing this risky game?

Iryna Lisovska

Head of HR/Recruitment at Acropolium and founder of Recruiters TechCamp

Your stance on developers holding multiple full-time jobs:

“In our company, we have a clear rule: holding multiple full-time jobs is something we don’t support, even under official arrangements.

When could it be acceptable? For example, teaching a course, if it doesn’t affect productivity on the project. In other words, if it’s not their main professional activity.”

Iryna believes that unusually low salary expectations from an experienced candidate, or questions about the timing of daily standups during the interview, can be signs of possible job stacking.

During work, these may be signs of holding more than one full-time job:

🚩 Low engagement. If the developer is constantly absent, delays responding to messages, and looks disengaged from the process, this is a reason to think twice. Genuine engagement is hard to split between multiple projects — especially in complex technical roles.

🚩 Missed deadlines. If even small tasks are completed late, and deadlines are constantly being postponed, you should check what’s going on.

What should a manager do if a teammate holds multiple full-time jobs?

“First, have an honest conversation. If exclusive collaboration is non-negotiable for you, give the specialist a choice: decide which employer to stay with.

If they choose another company, accept it; you’ve minimized your risk as a manager. When they decide to stay, keep monitoring performance. There’s a real risk the situation will repeat. If it does, end the collaboration — the person knowingly misled you. Such “values” may exist, but not in the teams where I work or have worked.”

Iryna is convinced that when discussing this issue, one should be open: not accusing, but asking questions. It is critical to find out why this is happening and whether it can affect the quality of teamwork. Consider alternatives:

Flexibility arrangements. If the situation allows, you can adapt your work schedule to ensure sufficient productivity.
Resource adjustments. The employee may have financial or career expectations that the company could fulfill without them needing to take on another job. Address this at the management level.
Make them choose. If they can’t handle both projects effectively, let them pick one.

Vadym Matuzenko

ex-Head of DSL at Deloitte and Career Consultant

Your stance on developers holding multiple full-time jobs:

“I believe life isn’t just about work. Spending 80 hours a week on your career means missing out on family, hobbies, health, and community.

One friend worked two full-time jobs to buy several apartments. He ended up burned out, sick, and unable to relocate with his family (planned before the full-scale invasion). In the end, he damaged his health, his property lost value, and the years were gone forever.

Of course, there are cases where two full-time jobs are possible. For example, a C++ developer I know honestly informed the management at both jobs. It’s an open approach, which impresses me. But even he admitted it wasn’t sustainable: eventually, one project will suffer.

If someone pretends to work full-time for two companies but spends 40 hours where 80 are expected, that’s deception. It doesn’t matter if this engineer thinks he is more productive in 20 hours than others are in 40.

One DevOps Engineer I hired swore he’d quit the job stacking — but two months later, it turned out that it was an outright deception. After that, I decided not to trust such specialists again.”

Vadym notes that there are many possible signs of job stacking. They could be:

Specific questions during the interview. Practical cases: “Is it okay if I answer all the necessary questions and be present in chats, but write code at night?” or “How do you measure that a developer has done enough work?” (although this is a new position where there were no established processes that were discussed during the interview).
Requests for work files from corporate accounts of other companies.
Frequent absences from the process and “chronic” excuses for missing deadlines.

The key factor that will help you notice job stacking is the manager’s involvement in the project. The better they understand their team’s productivity, the faster they can spot issues.

What should a manager do if a teammate holds multiple full-time jobs?

“Some companies keep such employees for a while — but they’re usually the first to be let go. They rarely get assigned to critical, exciting projects, and career growth is rare.

Working multiple full-time jobs isn’t inherently unacceptable — but if your company’s policy forbids it, prepare a replacement plan, and let them go once you’ve mitigated the risks.

This strategy is better for business and far less stressful for the manager.”

Anna Reznikova

Head of Recruitment at ITExpert

Your stance on developers holding multiple full-time jobs:

“I’m fine with combining full-time jobs, as long as it doesn’t conflict with the contract terms, affect productivity in either role, or harm a person’s health.

That said, my experience with dozens of companies shows that most businesses are strongly against it.”

Anna lists potential warning signs:

Persistent clarifications about the time of regular team meetings. There was a case when a specialist attended two daily meetings simultaneously, using two pairs of headsets.
A LinkedIn profile that’s never updated. Our team contacted a candidate who started working for our client, and a month later, their LinkedIn showed a different company as their employer. Once the manager noticed, the truth came out, and the specialist was fired.
Mismatches between company names and employment dates across candidate’s resume, LinkedIn, and job site profiles — a sign they may be unsure which employers to list or omit.
Missed and delayed deadlines, skipped meetings, and general disengagement — all pointing to a lack of time for your tasks, possibly due to another full-time job.

What should a manager do if a teammate holds multiple full-time jobs?

“If the company’s policy is strict regarding dual employment, it is important to communicate this transparently at the contract signing stage. Make it clear that if the specialist does not leave the other company, you will have to terminate the cooperation.

Is there no such policy? Then, if they’re delivering results, you might allow it. The trend of job stacking started in 2024, and some employers even see benefits: exposure to different companies can accelerate development and bring valuable insights to them. In wartime Ukraine, some businesses permit it if the other employer can provide military deferment — and in these cases, employees openly disclose their other jobs.”

Even if job stacking is allowed, Anna warns, employees must not use one company’s resources for another. For example, a recruiter can’t use one employer’s candidate database to source for another or use a corporate account for outside offers, etc.

Nastia Ivanytska

Senior Recruiter at Sigma Software, Lecturer at Beetroot Academy, and Career Mentor at TheWays

Your stance on developers holding multiple full-time jobs:

“In my opinion, combining two full-time jobs is not okay. This is harmful for both the company and the candidate.

Let’s be realistic: a person cannot be productive and focused for 16 hours straight. Multitasking is losing popularity because it’s inefficient — and sooner or later, one company will see a drop in quality, missed deadlines, and more mistakes, costing the business money.

The primary motivation is obvious: more income. But as practice shows, the financial incentive works only for the first six months. But what comes as a bonus? Burnout, decreased productivity, and sometimes depression.

However, there are exceptions when the combination of full-times may be acceptable. For example, a candidate might be working as a freelancer on one ongoing project while also providing consulting services to another product.”

Anastasiia sees these as possible indicators:

Previous experience working multiple full-time projects.
Contract-based employment with vague details about the current project.
Sensitivity around time trackers (though time tracking is often a trigger in itself).
Questions about setting their own hours regardless of team activity, unusual or shifted schedules without logical explanation, and strict time blocks when they’re consistently unavailable.
Strong interest in the number and necessity of meetings.

Important: None of these are 100% proof of job stacking — but they are signals to clarify expectations and work format.

What should a manager do if a teammate holds multiple full-time jobs?

“If collaboration has been ongoing for a while, the manager should review their approach to working with the team. They should be aware of their colleagues’ professional goals and maintain regular one-on-ones, informal chats, and open dialogue.

In any case, resolve the situation through communication. It is important to understand the specialist’s reasons and motivation:

If the other project is more interesting (new tech, different domain, more engaging tasks), offer an alternative within your company.
If it’s purely financial, discuss growth options: higher grade, new role, extra activities.

If no compromise is possible, end the collaboration.

The key is not to ignore the issue — find a fair solution for everyone involved.”

In Anastasiia’s experience, some candidates openly stated their desire to work on multiple projects. In those cases, she recommends setting clear expectations from the start — it’s part of healthy, transparent communication between a specialist and a company.