Ask HN: Is there a market (both supply/demand) for half-time software engineers?

7 pointsby godotvor 9 Jahren2 comments

In the SF Bay Area, senior full time software engineers easily get a pay of around $150-180k base salary, not including benefits and stocks.

What I would like, and I feel like I can't be alone in this, is to be employed half time and get paid half of that. I'd like the flexibility of having more days to myself (at this stage of my life, i.e. starting a family, with priorities on family over work), and maybe even grow side projects into small streams of passive income to diversify my income.

I see a lot of pros on the employee side, and that there must be a pool of engineers looking for something similar.

On the employer side I see pros being that half-time employment doesn't require benefits like health insurance, so these employees are on their own, and they also probably don't get given stocks, so in total by paying 50% salary, you actually end up paying less than 50% of total cost for the employee.

The con I see for the employer is that part time employees don't count as exempt so are required to be paid for any overtime hours, meaning it's harder to get ops response type of work out of them (need to pay for OT). So definitely can't see a company running with only half time engineers, but perhaps having a subset of engineers be half time could be possible (maybe even a good cost-saving idea).

Having said all that, does HN think there actually is a market for this on either side?

2 comments

ccdevvor 9 Jahren

I'm wondering this myself. I'm currently in a part-time contract for indie game development work. While it's been great, as far as I know it's an unusual situation to be in. It hasn't been easy for me to find another good complementary PT software job.

I am not expecting stocks or huge benefits at these sorts of jobs. What I am hoping to get out of these jobs is a stepping stone into more advanced and involved roles with the company. My current PT job is a big departure from my last job in terms of both tech skills and industry.

hsribeivor 9 Jahren

I'd love such an arrangement myself too, especially remotely. I have friends who tutor on Thinkful or some other company so they can choose to do fewer hours a week and dedicate themselves to family/projects, but that pays much less than working as an engineer. It works for them because they live in low cost-of-living countries.