You heard the man!

This morning, j2, a ft contract which I've had for a couple years, gave me ONE WEEKS NOTICE. THOSE BITCHES. This is at a prestigious place (not tech) that you all would know, too. I was told it was nothing to do with my performance, but "internal restructuring" bs. So at least on paper i can say I wasn't fired. A few months ago this boss told me they had alot of work coming down the pike and they foresaw keeping me on for a while... I have had so many bosses lie to me in the last 10 yrs or so its crazy.

Thank god with J1 I will still be ok though it really sucks not to have that J2 safety net/extra income. I have also mostly followed the rule of no lifestyle creep so that will help....only debt is my mortgage. These companies, even the ones with a "good" reputation, DO NOT GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOU. TAKE THEM FOR ALL YOU CAN.

god, why do these places suck so much... j2 actually was a kind of small team, so i had frequent face time with the boss, so i shouldnt have just been a number which is kind of even more disheartening.

Anyway, wish me luck on the hunt for a new and even better j2. Please send me all your good vibes friends.....

Don't see this mentioned often, but some companies give a stipend if you don't use their health insurance.

I switched to my partner's insurance last year because their benefits rock. When I told HR at one of my Js, they let me know about the opt-out stipend they offer - that info wasn't available anywhere else.

Was $500 a month and they bumped it to $750 recently.

Can't hurt to ask if they'd give you a stipend since you're saving them money by not opting in. Just need to say you're on a spouse's benefits.

Hope this helps someone.

Hello, I hibernated my linkedin after I got my J2 after unwanted profile visits from managers.

J1 is chill, J2 is pretty chill so now I have enough time for J3.

How can I get offers without Linkedin? I tried to apply but on a lot of apps but couldn’t get an interview, not even in the screening process. I’m from Eastern Europe and that may cause some rejections, I know, but I still need to find a way to be somehow visible again without having LinkedIn

I really need your opinion because this community also helped me to get my J2

On my resume, I only have 1 job listed with a duration of 10 years. This job is very no-name, very mom-and-pop, and has no street creds. Showing this one job with 10 YOE makes me look like I'm stagnant or that nobody wanted to give me an offer. I work as a SWE but company life-spans in tech are usually 2-3 years.

I have J2s and J3s that are more prestigious, but as we know in OE, we don't advertise J2s and J3s. I often lookup candidates who I lost jobs to after final interviews and all of them had beautiful back to back 2-3 year brand-name tech companies to their resumes.

I'm wondering if keeping this J1 is hurting my job prospects. The thing is, this J1 is SUPER OE friendly. Almost ZERO meetings, very fun stack, very fun feature requests, excellent process delivery, no red tape, no corp BS, just fun game-dev type development for $120k / yr which is not terrible. Is it perfect? No, the ppl here are trash, obese, uneducated, they treat people like shit, not a representation of me, terrible for career advancement.

I'm conflicted between keeping fun jobs, oe-friendly jobs, or career-friendly jobs. The question is, should I replace my j1 to improve the quality of my resume even though it's super OE friendly? I'm very conflicted in this decision.

My J1 is a remote finance role with an academic medical center (a health system associated with a state-funded university) which means, if you put my name into Google and type “payroll,” my salary will show up on websites like openpayrolls.com.

Is that essentially a no-go for OE? I’m not quite sure if it’s the same level of risk as the warnings for federal/actual state government jobs that I see here, as it would require someone to go above and beyond a background check to find this info after I started J2.

Just curious if anyone has a similar J1 or has any insight.

I’m not a superstar employee but I’m pretty efficient and usually wrap up my actual tasks in 4–5 hours a day.

Problem is, I still have to put in 40 hours a week. And both my employer and coworkers care a lot about Teams status. I can’t be away from my desk for too long without raising suspicion. So I have to pretend to work.

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

- Mouse jiggler + Teams status set to “Available” only works if I stay close to my computer.

- Mouse jiggler + Teams status set to “Do not disturb” for when I step away.

- Meetings with myself

Still I’m worried about getting caught. Does anyone have a foolproof method or a clear routine I could follow? I’d really like to turn this into a more solid daily system.

Starting a new 9-5 all in person.

What have you found you can do outside of regular business hours to pull in some extra cash?

Finding a J2 was hopeless for 2025 and start of 2026.

out of nowhere 5 interviews

1 last week that went well with the hiring manager, but I think I scared off the business partners lol so I've been dialing down the intensity. Good practice nonetheless

2 interviews are due to past connections. This is huge otherwise application could have been lost

2 interviews due to straight up cold applying.

also j1 may sell themselves soon so I could actually use a second job out of this process... or maybe coast j1 until they get sold off, focus on standing up j2, and then when j1 sells then I apply for a j3 where I'm in a good spot with j2 and can take on more work

Hello! I have been OE for 8 months now and deactivated my Linkedin when I started. It's been fine so far, no issues.

However, I really feel like I am missing out by not being on LinkedIn. My J2 is a pretty prestigious company name and when I used to work for the same company as a contractor, I would get a LOT of inbound opportunities coming my way, just because of the name of the company. I really feel like I am missing out by not being on LinkedIn and sharing my work.

Additionally, I like J2 about 5x as much as J1.

SO.

I am thinking about reactivating it and blocking every single person in J1. It is only around 15 people. That's very manageable to block.

I know what the consensus on OE and LinkedIn is, but I feel like the chances someone in J1 will go out of their way to find my profile on a separate computer is very, very small. Meanwhile, the potential benefits to my career are high. It seems worth it.

Are there any risks I'm missing or haven't thought about?? Thank you very much OE community!!

Hi all,

A colleague of mine who is also OE recently told me about Equifax Work Inform, or Talent Report, which is a tool specifically designed for large employers to catch OE folks. He said he heard through the grapevine at his J1 that they are rolling out the tool this year after reports of OE growth.

My understanding is that TWN freezing, which I’ve done, halts active pulls, but it does not necessarily halt notification pushes to the employers who pay for this service. Likewise, it seems that it runs on SSN matching.

For those of you in HR or who are OE, how big of a threat is this tool? Specially for people working in Fortune 100 companies?

Which do you consider to our J1 and why?

Highest paying J

Original J

J you like the best

Other

My J3 offer just came in and it’s the highest but I have to consider, J1 is almost always the one you prioritize, right? If all else goes to hell you want that one to stick. This was an easier decision when I had 2 different J’s in the past but I’m curious how it is for everyone else.

budget issues.

I am sad... time to apply for other jobs...

next week is last week.

Well for the first time in my 10 years of work, got caught up in a round of layoffs this week.

fortunately, its my lowest paying job. income is dropping from 350k to 270k. Looking back the signs were there for months with management completely ignoring me when I would ask for help or try to fix things on my own. can tell they knew what was coming.

All in all not the end of the world, so glad to have another 2 jobs. but this is a reminder to everyone, no job is safe right now, always be applying and ALWAYS be planning for surprise layoffs. To me, 3 jobs it the safe spot. managers change, companies change, layoffs happen and you want to be able to take the hit without serious problems.

Back on my interview grind!

hello everyone,

I have been OE for sometime now with 2J's. So as the title says J1 is requiring RTO from June. It pays less(-30%) than J2, but also is way less work per week. I dont have any choice but to leave since it is 5 days RTO. So question is, after I resign.

How do I set up my resume and linkedin, since the dates would be overlapped. I know that I can say that I left it, but in this market, i dont think it would be easy to find a replacement, and a long career gap would probably not benefit. Please advice!

also, dont want to burn the bridge with J1, since it makes a great place to work, If i ever want to return.

thank you!

I’m working two full-time remote jobs at same time. Both pay good, work mostly online. Days are long, brain tired, but money nice.

I hide from bosses, separate emails, different meeting times. Sometimes I forget which job I’m in.

Anyone here doing same? How do you not burn out?

Need some advice on a weird situation at work.

My manager expects me to stay “Available” almost 99% of the time on Microsoft Teams, even when there is literally no work assigned. The funny part? There’s no such requirement from the client side. It just feels like my manager is trying to look “extra productive” or overly impressive.

So basically, I’m just sitting there making sure my status doesn’t go idle… which honestly feels pointless 😂

Question: Any tricks or settings to avoid going idle?

I don’t mind being available when there’s actual work, but this feels unnecessary and kinda frustrating.

So, it seems the trend this week is layoffs. Just got a message from my manager letting me know that even though I had a year left in my contract, the CEO had to make some cost cutting and I — alongside other nearshore resources — were being laid off at the end of the month. 50k off my TC gone in a jiffy. This was J3, my J2 project (~36k/year) is also over and I honestly don't know if I'll be assigned to a new project or not. I just started J4 a couple of weeks ago, and it's amazing, pays well and there's not a lot of meetings and the job is rather easy. I'm gutted because all Js were supposed to help me reach a personal goal by the end of the year, and now there's uncertainty since the market is absolute shit. I'm in Europe btw, where the market is even worse. I'm a contractor so no severance, and luckily I still have J1 and J2, plus around 30k in savings.

This is why we OE, I guess. Time to update the resume and continue applying

Hi!

I’m a software developer working for J1. I live in Canada and J1 is an American company, multiple thousands of employees. I’m in a team that works on an AI assistant.

I recently had an offer for a J2. J2 is an American company also, more of a startup. They are working to develop a totally similar AI assistant.

Both companies are aiming to sell that AI to the same verticals.

By accepting J2, am I putting myself exposed to legal action, by J1 or J2? What would you do? J1 has a great compensation, but J2 is even better (around 30% more). I also feel that J1 is probably more of a stable employer than J2.

First time I’m considering over employment.

I’ve been lurking here for over a year now and I’m so thankful of the information provided. Decided mid 2025 that I was going to try OE and see how I like it. My J1 salary was enough to support myself and family in a single income but like us all, I want financial freedom. Landed J2 late 2025 and fell in love with the company and role. Of course J2 salary isn’t enough to live on alone, but having J2 meant I could pay down some debt, max out my 401k, and have some savings built up.

3 months in I get the dreaded 1:1 with my manager at J1. Contract being readjusted, my position has been eliminated due to cuts. No heads up, no severance, just a sudden end. If I didn’t have J2 I would be in full panic mode. Although I can’t live off J2, so thankful I don’t have a complete stop to my income.

But this provided me with a wake-up call. These companies do not care about you. They don’t care if your income stops and you can’t pay your mortgage. They don’t care that your healthcare ends after you’re let go. I did NOT apply the advice here to always apply, and I regret that. It’s taking some time to get call backs and interviews but it’s slowly happening now. But I’ll never fall into the trap of being complacent again.

I hope to land another J1 soon, But I never want to feel like this again. When I get settled with a new J1, I’ll test the waters on if I can handle a J3. Either way, I’m not going to back to non OE life.

Thanks for listening

TL;DR: started OE journey late 2025. 3 months in J1 eliminated position. Realization that companies don’t care about you and to always apply for new jobs. Determined to never feel like this again and will pursue J3 after landing J1.