\n<\/p>\n
A<\/span>ashna Doshi, a software engineer at Google, is constantly monitoring her headspace. \u201cThis way I don\u2019t burn myself out,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I stay a lot more consistent with my podcast and content creation work.\u201d<\/p>\n On top of her day job in the tech giant\u2019s security and artificial intelligence department, Doshi also publishes social media content about working in tech and her life in New York City, and records podcasts \u2013 sometimes all three in a day.<\/p>\n She is part of a seismic generational shift: 57% of gen Z Americans have a side hustle, according to recent Harris Poll research, compared with 21% among boomers.<\/p>\n Rather than throwing everything into a single career, many young adults are now spinning plates \u2013 using their main job as financial bedrock while directing their passion, and ambition, elsewhere.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my side hustles I can finally offer myself an outlet to be creative and express myself without any constraints,\u201d said Doshi, 23. \u201cThis is probably the biggest thing: I can represent myself as an individual with all these ambitions, skills and passion versus \u2018Aashna is a software engineer at Google.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFrom watching our parents\u2019 generation pour everything into work, as a generation, we realized we need to pursue something we love and feel fulfilled,\u201d said Sen Ho, 25, who works in a stationery store and pulls together digital illustrations in his spare time.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I wasn\u2019t doing my side hustle, I would be very lost in life,\u201d he added. \u201cIt is what keeps me going.\u201d<\/p>\n Most young professionals no longer see a 9-5 job as essential for achieving financial success, the Harris Poll survey found, turning instead to side hustles and investing.<\/p>\n A new generation of US workers is prioritizing flexibility, freedom and purpose, which a traditional corporate job may not be able to offer, according to Mark Valentino, Citizens Bank\u2019s president of business banking. \u201cGen Z is thinking in terms of what I call a \u2018portfolio of careers\u2019 \u2013 not just one path, but a bunch of different things that bring them fulfilment,\u201d he said. \u201cThey saw their parents struggle and concluded they\u2019d rather have more balance. They don\u2019t believe they can achieve the same financial success as previous generations, so they\u2019re refocusing on their goals.\u201d<\/p>\n In middle school, Ho sold sketches to classmates for candy money long before he enrolled in art school. What began as pocket change has now become a crucial source of supplementary income.<\/p>\n \u201cI love how art can evoke emotion in people and share a story,\u201d he said. \u201cCompared to my retail job, my side hustle gives me a sense of accomplishment. It\u2019s more challenging, creative and mentally stimulating and I can have a real impact.\u201d<\/p>\n The money Ho receives for his illustrations helps cover everyday expenses in New York City, where the annual cost of living \u2013 including housing, bills and food expenses \u2013 approaches $64,000, according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.<\/p>\n Many young Americans are no longer prepared to \u201crely on a single job for financial security and career growth\u201d as they grapple with an increasingly rocky economy, said Daniel Zhao, chief economist at Glassdoor. \u201cAll the traditional pathways to success, like going to college and securing a steady white-collar job, haven\u2019t borne out, and now they are left with debt and a tough job market.\u201d<\/p>\n The tech industry has been particularly vulnerable to layoffs in recent years, as AI rapidly reshapes the sector. More than 150,000 jobs were cut across 550 companies last year.<\/p>\n Doshi\u2019s side hustles are her safety net if the next wave hits her. \u201cThe job market is cooked,\u201d she said. \u201cYou might have a job today, but tomorrow you might be laid off. Side hustles are about security and control, in such an unpredictable economy. It feels safer than just relying on one employer.\u201d<\/p>\n Yeong Yuh Lee, 23, a freelance illustrator in New York, was recently let go from her full-time job. Without side hustles, she would have been without income. She was previously an artist for an animation company and, in her spare time, commissions graphics for content creators.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what I would\u2019ve done if I didn\u2019t hustle for clients outside of my in-studio job,\u201d said Lee. \u201cRight now I am living off of my side hustle, while trying to find a new job. But it\u2019s already been six months and no luck.\u201d<\/p>\n Generative AI cratered the art job market, offering illustrations at a fraction of human artists\u2019 rates. Like Lee, Ho is struggling to find stable in-house studio positions.<\/p>\n \u201cWith AI, combined with the increasing lack of funding for the arts, and being a recent graduate, I just couldn\u2019t break into the industry at all,\u201d said Ho. \u201cThe industry is slowly declining so I had no choice but to fall into retail as my day job and just side-hustle my art.\u201d<\/p>\n But working on these gigs alongside day jobs has its costs. Ho doesn\u2019t have much down time. When he clocks off at the store, he clocks into his side gig, opening his computer and beginning cold outreach to find potential clients, or posting new pieces on social media in a bid to boost his exposure.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a sense, I am never off the clock,\u201d he said. \u201cIt does get tiring, I do admit, but at the end of the day it\u2019s like I got to do what I got to do. I just love drawing so much that I cannot imagine not doing it no matter how tired or exhausted I may be.\u201d<\/p>\n When Doshi tried splitting her time evenly among her roles, she felt drained and burnt out as if \u201cfighting demons\u201d, she said, before she focused on managing her energy levels. Her 9-5 role at Google eats her \u201cpeak focus energy\u201d, she said, \u201cand I work best with content creation and podcasting when my mind is relaxed, and feeling more creative\u201d.<\/p>\n Zhao, of Glassdoor, believes employers should embrace their employees\u2019 side hustles, provided there is no conflict of interest. A \u201chappy workforce is ultimately an engaged workforce\u201d, he said, predicting that more young workers will pick up jobs on the side as time goes on.<\/p>\n \u201cSide hustles are here to stay, especially for younger workers,\u201d Zhao added. \u201cThey are motivated, have the will to learn, the grit to be scrappy, and these are all characteristics that are really important for a workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n As more workers juggle multiple jobs, Valentino cautioned that corporate America faces a reckoning.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s going to be a big gap in the workforce in the next 10 years,\u201d he said. \u201cThe onus is on corporate employers to figure out how to attract young people into jobs where they feel passionate, where there\u2019s a mission and a sense of purpose, where there\u2019s flexibility.\u201d<\/p>\n This fundamental shift may be irreversible, Valentino added. \u201cThe barriers to entry for starting something \u2026 are the lowest they\u2019ve ever been,\u201d he said. \u201cI do see there being a change in terms of what we define as a \u2018career\u2019 moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Aashna Doshi, a software engineer at Google, is constantly monitoring her headspace. \u201cThis way I don\u2019t burn myself out,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I stay a lot more consistent with my podcast and content creation work.\u201d On top of her day job in the tech giant\u2019s security and artificial intelligence department, Doshi also publishes social media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[16123,1297,16099,86,23038,3468,514,550],"class_list":{"0":"post-44337","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-booming","9":"tag-careers","10":"tag-clock","11":"tag-gen","12":"tag-hustles","13":"tag-side","14":"tag-work","15":"tag-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u2018The job market is cooked\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018I am never off the clock\u2019<\/h2>\n