It would be so great if more professions in the US had part time options. I could make a zillion dollars as a dev for a big tech company, but there's nowhere that pays 80% of that for 80% of the hours. Hell, I don't think I have the option to make 50% of that for 80% of the hours. Salaried careers seem to only have full time positions, and it sucks.
"It would be so great if more professions in the US had part time options. "
I agree with this, and I've personally led a life that has had many different kinds of occupations (I've been a musician, a teacher, and a programmer- usually all three at once).
I've come to the conclusion that a lot of the reason for "full-time" employment has to do with making workers unavailable for other projects.
Or, if you prefer, full time jobs aren't there because 40-hours-a-week is how much can be gotten out of a worker, but because that's how much time is necessary to keep someone from getting another job that might interfere with the "real" job.
Many folks, especially folks who do weird stuff that requires, if not great intellect or training, familiarity with a specific system (as is the case with software, for instance) aren't actually working a full time load. That's a really common observation, I think. But the way to understand why that continues to happen is that their employment ensures their availability.
That may see strange, and on some levels it's simply not correct and certainly not how most folks are thinking about full time employment.
But if you push an employer to give you fewer hours, that understanding might make a lot of sense out of why they generally won't allow part-time work- if you've got a side gig, they can't have that take priority over their tasks.
Your value to your company is also not a linear function of your time there. There are high fixed costs to training, liability, insurance, etc. They are paying you to always be available, etc.
With that said, I think it's very possible to find a much more easier development job with a lower salary. You should be able to meet performance expectations in very little time.
if you have the soft skills (I sure dont lol) I -think- contracting/consulting can be a solution to this? It's not exactly part time, but you work your contract and then take a break before you pick up the next one, which does give you more flexibility with your time. You could eg work six months on, six months off, that way.
Maybe. I knew a PE who did this years ago, but I wonder if there's any software engineers on this board who have successfully done this
I usually negotiate my contracts to be 20-30 hours per week of work. This gives me ample time to work on side projects (aka playing ck3) and run my Etsy shop.
The soft skills aren't much, you have to remember your boss is also just as social awkward as you, because, they are usually cut from the same software developer cloth. But remaining on good terms with past managers helps a lot. I still have annual dinners with almost everyone I've ever worked with, even if we are all scattered across the US.
The company Galois notably supports this sort of arrangement (you pick your hours and your pay is scaled accordingly). I think their corporate structure could be applied more widely.
