> Rather than working 2 full time jobs, have you considered consulting or freelancing?
Problem here is the level of stress. In my limited experience, no one hires contractors/freelancers to do "easy" tasks. So, I would get the same level of stress plus all the disadvantages of being a freelancer/contractor.
In this market _a lot_ of companies hire contractors at high rates because it’s the only way for them to hire. Especially firms considered “lame” by developers like banks, insurance companies, utilities etc.
I work 30-35 hour low-stress weeks and make more than most managers.
Most contracts I've had were due to skill shortages - not enough people know technology X, so they can't be bothered to join at regular FTE wages - but if you offer twice that as a contract, then people start showing up.
The relevant difference is the wage increase, the contract (instead of regular employment) is there mostly to create the illusion (to fool HR and some managers who can't deal with the fact that these programmers make more than them) that it's only a short-term emergency position fill, before the company can find suitable FTE - but in practice, the contracts are multi-year, because skill shortages for new/exotic tech just don't resolve themselves that quickly (demand tends to rise quicker than supply for a while), and also the company prefers to stay in denial and never raise the FTE wages they offer to meet the market expectations. So, the vacancies never get filled, and contractors stay for 3-5 years, making bank. Rinse and repeat a couple times, and you can retire around 40, even in socialist and low-paying Western Europe.
I am employee market, yes. You make people do the things they don't want to do, they start looking for another job and quit 2-3 months after. This has been a trend in my current company, to the degree that "developer preferences" is one of major factors when choosing tech stacks.
You can say no but you will have to be tactful. A simple refusal might get you fired but asking for training or showing how you are inefficient at certain task, may send the message without embarrassing your boss.
People are pretty damn good at finding reasons why they can't do a task or can't do it well or at least can't do it now, without it being an unacceptable direct "no, won't do that". And in plenty cases, loosing employees over something like that isn't worth it, especially for companies that already struggle with hiring enough and retaining knowledge.
Problem here is the level of stress. In my limited experience, no one hires contractors/freelancers to do "easy" tasks. So, I would get the same level of stress plus all the disadvantages of being a freelancer/contractor.