Six months of a side job as a 2024 new grad: what was good and what I regret

Introduction

Nice to meet you. I’m kittchy, an ML engineer at a company.

I started a side job right after starting work as a new graduate in 2024. I had three reasons.

• To gain experience as an engineer
• To have income besides my salary, giving me some breathing room
• To broaden my knowledge as an ML engineer

After six months of it, here’s what was good and what I regret.

What was good about starting a side job

1. I got better at managing my time

With limited time, I’m expected to deliver results at both my main job and my side job, so I’ve learned to manage my own time. I’m not sure whether it’s because of the side job or because I became a working adult, but I’m now very conscious of how I use the hours after my main job ends.

For example, here’s how I spend a day.

• Until 8:00: wake up
• 8:00–9:00: get ready
• 9:00–9:30: commute, or light work
• 9:30–20:00: main job
• 20:00–22:00: dinner, bath, and so on
• 22:00–24:00: side job, or free time
• 24:00 onward: sleep

Before settling into this, I noticed three things that I now put into practice.

• Sleeping from 24:00 to 8:00 works best for me
• 20:00–22:00 is the devil’s hour. The game is how quickly I can get into the bath
• 22:00–24:00 is bonus time. I work without pushing too hard

Since I started living by rules I set for myself, I use my time better than before.

2. I can do what I like, unlike in my main job

I do get to do things I like in my main job. But in my case, small tasks (maintenance, meetings, and so on) and writing documents take up most of the time, and I can’t spend much time on what I love: coding and training ML models.

At the side job, on the other hand, I can move fairly freely and work whenever I like. I work at a startup in particular, where if I speak up they let me try all kinds of things (I’m really grateful), so it’s easy to take on challenges. I get to work from a different angle than my main job, which is refreshing too.

3. I get to work with a different area of technology

In graduate school I was in a speech processing lab, doing research with machine learning. My main job, though, is MLOps and accuracy improvement for images, a different domain. I want to keep knowledge of many areas, not just images but also speech, natural language, recommendation, and more, so an environment where I can absorb knowledge from several domains is a real advantage.

This helps in my main job too. When speech processing comes up at the company, people now come to me. It connects me with people and with work, and chances to take on challenges keep falling into my lap.

What I regret about starting a side job

1. I have no time to study

This is the one I feel most. People who are good with time and work efficiently can probably read technical books and study for exams with time to spare. In my case I’m often at full capacity, and as a result I read fewer technical books.

Talking with colleagues who joined my main company with me makes me realize how little I’m taking in, so I’m holding on by making time to study even if it’s a bit of a stretch. I also think the best thing would honestly be to quit the side job and give myself plenty of time.

2. I have to be careful not to become a workaholic

Results are expected from the side job as well as the main job, so I focus on work so much that I can’t think about anything else. Here’s what I felt this year.

• Because I have to deliver at the side job, I’m tempted to cut into weekend time with the people who matter to me
• Hanging out or drinking with friends and colleagues starts to feel like a chore
• I get mentally tired and lose motivation

Once I get into that state, I feel it’s hard to get out, so I review how I use my time and make a point of spending time with friends and the people who matter to me now and then. Having to pay attention even to this is a bit tough.

3. I can’t give 120 percent to my main job

Obviously, I can’t put absolutely everything into my main job. There are a few projects I think I could have finished sooner with a bit more energy and time, but I’m taking the benefits of the side job in exchange, so I just have to accept it.

This was very different from how I thought as a student. Back then I could give everything to everything. Maybe it’s age, but now I get sleepy quickly at night and can’t pull all-nighters. I’m afraid that if I stay up all night I’ll barely be able to work the next day, so now I make sure to sleep properly.

Since I can’t go all out, it seems the only way is to learn to use my time efficiently.

Closing

Those are my impressions from six months of a side job as a new graduate. These days I try to keep it relaxed enough that I have room in my mind (I still go all out when it counts).

That said, I think the benefits of a side job are big, so give one a try, within reason.

See you.