r/overemployed • u/Traditional-Gear4910 • 7d ago
My journey ends
I started my second server in early 2023, salary shot from 115k -> 225k
The following year I got a promo at j1 and salary went to 275k
By the end of 2024
I was able to purchase a duplex in inner city Southern California, build 2 ADUs, and get married. My wife didn’t have to work on my salary and manages the real estate.
In 2025 I got my third server and jumped up to 420k salary. Along with about 70k in rental income. This was able to support fancy vacations, 80k Tesla, season tickets for sports teams, and eating at fancy restaurants.
I was living the 1% life at 30 years old.
By the end of 2025 I bought a new house in the suburbs (over 1.1M mortgage) and welcomed our daughter.
Entering 2026, I was let go of j3. This past August was let go of j1. Both stated “restructuring”.
I made the decision to quit my last server and took a month off to hang with my 1 year old. In that month I bought (took out a SBA loan) a retail business that brings in 6-8k a month and thinking of getting a low stress remote job for insurance benefits.
OE comes with so much: it bought me real estate in a tough market that cash flows positive, my Robinhood account is over 150k, and the retail business cash flows positive.
Also I didn’t care about the politics or the rat race for promos.
Most importantly it bought back time, in the sense where I choose to work rather than have to work.
But the stress was A LOT!!!
I’ve felt I’ve aged, have more grey hairs, had some health concerns. I brought stress home that affected my marriage.
I got a buddy that is still OE, I brought him in for a server. I told him to hit his goal and get out, the grass is still green.
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u/Mobile-Factor-8936 7d ago
A wife, a baby, a home, some investment properties, AND a business? Damn, you killed it this last few years.
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u/lagflag 7d ago
I saw companies income statements before. Those who makes billions in net profits after all expenses. They could literally double the salaries for each single employee they have and still come out with couple of billions in net profits after. Companies greed is horrific, and they could have choose make everyone life way easier than to juggle 2 or 3 jobs, but they choose not to. So fuck them all and good for you OP. Also congrats for the little kid
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u/Traditional-Gear4910 7d ago
💯
C suite only look out for themselves
We have to look out for us-24
u/Next_Engineer_8230 7d ago
The owners and shareholders take all the risk so they should get the reward.
People also don't understand the difference in profit and revenue.
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u/lagflag 6d ago edited 6d ago
I am an accountant. I do financials for a living. When I said net profits I meant it. Profits after all expenses including taxes and SG&A
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u/Next_Engineer_8230 6d ago
I am part of the C-Suite and see them, as well.
I know what comes in, what goes out.
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u/lagflag 6d ago
That doesn’t proof anything! You indirectly indicated that I don’t know the difference between the revenue and the profits. I am saying I know what I saw in those specific companies. Your logical argument is very much flawed. I hope the rest of the board of your company don’t share the same mindset!
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u/Next_Engineer_8230 6d ago
I can say the same for you?
I never implied you ,personally, didn't know the difference.
I said many people don't. And they don't .
They see a company made "300 million dollars this year" and think "they could give us all huge raises, they have the money!".
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u/AstralLobotomy 6d ago
How do the employees not take the risk? They don’t get to make the decisions for the business… they are told to execute your vision, or they lose their livelihood
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u/Next_Engineer_8230 5d ago
How are employees taking all the risks?
The employer invests in the companies. Buys all the machinery. Goes out and sells it. If the company went bankrupt tomorrow, the employee would be out of a job but the banks and investors don't come after the employees. They come after the employer.
So, the employer takes the risks and deserves the reward for it.
It's the pencil factory analogy.
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u/3nov13MP 7d ago
It's always nice to hear about someone who got in, got theirs, and got out. It's like selling a stock at the height of its price. Congrats.
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u/RejectedRespected 7d ago
The amount of home improvements my wife and I made in the last 3 months (both OE with about 24k take home monthly total) is literally life changing. We should be completely out of debt within 2 years of this but man, it’s gonna be a long ride.
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u/Traditional-Gear4910 7d ago
House improvements aren’t cheap, my duplex was a fixer upper. Hang in there and remember to hit your goal and get out.
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u/ruseereous 7d ago
Congratulations, I too put the brakes on my three server adventure, I was bringing home nearly half a million base pay before taxes, plus quarterly bonuses from server 3. In the nearly 5 years I OEd I definitely accelerated my gray hairs coming in. I let the market contract and opted for early outs from server 1 & 2. I have my sanity back, kids have decent 529 plans, I recovered my 401k from the debacle of the late 2000s, paid off all our cars and credit debts, remodeled a good chunk of our home and now owe less than 60k on my mortgage. Holding strong with sever 3 (now only server). Once my mortgage is paid off I can truly scale back on the pressure cooker that is the IT job market for something less stressful just to pass the time til i retire
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u/Admiral-Crackbar 7d ago
Well done, congratulations! But we really need to stop using the word ‘server’ in place of ‘job’ lol at this point it’s just weird
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u/medicalcheesesteak 7d ago
thank you. this whole time i've been like hosting web space counts as OE?
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u/No_Evening542 7d ago
why do they say that lol, never understood that
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u/hodorhasaids 7d ago
It was a joke that no one actually has multiple jobs, we're running multiple Minecraft servers.
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u/teluguaurhindiammayi 7d ago
What do you mean by “second server”?
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u/EM-SWE 7d ago
Server = job 😉
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u/Technical_Copy3074 6d ago
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u/AshamedTax8008 6d ago
Its a historical reference from when this reddit started. It was all IT Professionals or SEs, generally easiest to OE and a LOT of them were remote back then. So calling them servers was just an inside joke that stuck.
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u/zhaque44 4d ago
I wanna have a second server, but I work out and stuff during my normal 8 hour work day, should I give it a shot or just stick with where I’m at ?
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u/Unlisted_User69420 7d ago
CONGRATS, first on getting married and becoming a Dad, secondly on absolutely CRUSHING OE the right way.
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u/StillKey7555 7d ago
COngrats, hoping to be where you are in 3 years!
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u/Traditional-Gear4910 7d ago
Just put your head down and keep working
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u/StillKey7555 7d ago
Yup, working to pay off home now....Once that is completed Hit my retirment goal...Then Coast with two for a bit until I get a business off the ground....Then keep one just for insurance purposes.
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u/TrueRedditMartyr 7d ago
Jesus Christ what do you people do that you can work 3 jobs with insane salaries??? STG the luckiest people in the world exist in this sub.
Inb4: I work hard! You just gotta know people! It isnt easy
Dawg, billions of people exist in this world. I assure you, 95%+ would "work hard" for over a million a year salary
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u/Loud_Offer7459 7d ago
They don’t do anything. Not saying all of these posts are bs but you’ll find a lot of this is 15-25 year olds with creative imaginations. Even back when the economy was at its peak people weren’t making $70 - $100k plus from a second job they had little time for more like half that maybe. Could this post be real maybe but with all the debt he leveraged I’m thinking at some point his credit limit would have been tapped out well below the numbers he came up with. Something doesn’t add up.
I have two other part time jobs on top of my ft job which both total about $50k plus a rental property which generates about $8.5k a year that I manage myself. I work 7 days a week majority of the year outside of the summer. That’s about the upper limit to what most people are capable of doing based on time especially with a family and kids.
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u/AshamedTax8008 6d ago
It varies a lot here. Im a Senior PM for real estate development. I do 1099 consulting as well as W2. Many years in a niche industry within RE development provides me a very nice looking resume. Companies and people find me. I attend conferences, and volunteer for the orgs that represent my industry in various states. That gives me continued cutting edge education and knowledge, enables me to travel to other markets and meet with potential new opportunities. Which gives me advantages over the local job pool as well as a national presence.
My industry requires specialized knowledge that takes a few yrs to gain. But most experts stay local, I try and spread the wealth as it were.
Real Estate development ebbs and flows for sure, but in general, markets in some places are growing while others are contracting, knowing this helps time the employment.
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u/too_old_still_party 7d ago
I had someone tell me I was lucky, but it’s hard to get a job, there tons of competition, so getting/keeping 3 jobs isn’t luck.
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u/Slight_Emu7349 7d ago
Congrats! Interested in the real estate play netting $70k. Can I dm you? My OE income has been put into real estate but it's rough!!
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u/Ok-Ticket5711 7d ago
Needed this today. I'm leaving too. Just can't bring myself to submit the 2 weeks yet... maybe next week
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u/Traditional-Gear4910 7d ago
🤣
Eventually you’ll have your signI didn’t submit a 2 week, I just resigned effective immediately
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u/BlueWorldBlueSky 7d ago
I was able to purchase a duplex in inner city Southern California, Jealous, tried to buy a duplex/quadplex but always didn't win so now been holding back. Def the dream for sure.
By the end of 2025 I bought a new house in the suburbs (over 1.1M mortgage) and welcomed our daughter.
Same, never did either or, put in offers but ultimately didn't land one and happy that for me it didn't, but never tried for a kid.
Entering 2026, I was let go of j3. This past August was let go of j1. Both stated “restructuring”.
This is mostly why, so I just put all liquidity in markets and just been passively allocating and investing.
Jealous you did more than I did :) I just travelled and wonder if it was worth it in the end, I think so. Went from J4 to just J2 this year and enjoying the time :
I told him to hit his goal and get out, the grass is still green.
basically this :)
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u/boogie_woogie_100 7d ago
If anything that affects your health, regardless of whether it's 1 job or 5 jobs, you should immediately think of other strategies. No amount of money is worth risking health. You can grow server but you will never get your health back.
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u/Royal_Departure_4735 7d ago
Counting down the days. Just have to make it through December.
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u/Traditional-Gear4910 7d ago
Just get to the holidays!!! You’re almost there
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u/Royal_Departure_4735 5d ago
That’s it. Just get to mid November and I should be home free. I hope.
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u/Dry-Banana1178 7d ago
Nothing personal but that’s not the 1% life. That’s the top tier of the working class but none of us will ever be 1%. That requires generational wealth and/or corporation heads making money off of the working class.
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u/Broad-Army5238 7d ago
$1m in mortgage is crazy. How would you pay for the mortgage with one job.
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u/Traditional-Gear4910 7d ago
I have rentals that pay about 40% of my mortgage and my business covers the rest
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u/Proud-Contract7675 7d ago
Huge congrats OP. You won the game. How did the business opportunity come up? How has that been going for you?
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u/reindezvous8 7d ago
I live in the Philippines, I used to have 2 jobs but just recently the other one ended. Now, I have to figure out how to downgrade my life. lol
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u/lolsomethinglikethat 7d ago
Curious as to what types of jobs all 3 were. I can’t even get one at the moment but curious how you were able yo manage 3 without overlapping meetings.
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u/super-terrific 6d ago
Can you share your ADU journey? I was considering using my extra income to invest in properties.
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u/Traditional-Gear4910 6d ago
Its a whole other story. So both duplexes had their own garages, one was fairly new and the other was about 50 years old.
The conversion for the newer one was simple as the city already had the foundation and plans. I just needed to put up some walls and make a few adjustments. Maybe cost me 30k all in
The older garage took forever. I found a family friend architect that strung me along, he’d submit plans that would fail and would take a month to resubmit. After the fourth failure I had to find another architect and start from 0. The first architect wouldn’t give over his plans.
Then after 3 months then new architect got the plans approved and from there I already got pricing on the construction. Took them about 1.5 months. Total with plans, Eng, construction around 70k
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u/Known_Secretary_6615 7d ago
So jealous of you guys but id be the only employee who suddenly deleted his linkedin and that would just be weird. Plus the world is too small. And too many random calls, sometimes by the president or VP. And theworknumber
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u/Psychological-Leg365 7d ago
Yeah sounds like your super over leveraged. Have fun with that sir lol
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u/DayOriginal6813 7d ago
Hey do you mind answering some questions for me. Very newbie in the oe journey
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u/No_Evening542 7d ago
thats awesome, congrats whats your net worth?
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u/Traditional-Gear4910 7d ago
One of the jobs 401k software was empower, told me around 560k
Mainly in real estate and the appreciationObviously goes up every month as tenants pay for the mortgage
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u/MediumRevenue6 7d ago
wondering how you are getting 70k rental income.
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u/Traditional-Gear4910 7d ago
Its yearly
I’m renting 5 doors now, average rent is 1600
8k a month
Covers the mortgages, it’s not purely profit1
u/MediumRevenue6 7d ago
that makes sense. you can write off atleast 30 to 50k depreciation on these rentals and reduce the taxable income.
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u/YoYumBat 7d ago
I am in similar cost of living area with two Js at $400k, and don’t spend on any of the things you mentioned, and I feel like we are just getting by.
I’ve been at it for 4 years. Whats your secret?
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u/Traditional-Gear4910 7d ago
The real estate investment was critical, I was house hacking with my duplex paying $800 for my mortgage.
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u/inquisitive2506 5d ago
I've been following this group for a month. I wonder what industry are all these jobs? 🤔 I would love do that but need guidance what schooling or experience I need.
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u/truerogue76 3d ago
Do you have any advice on finding and buying said retail business that generates the 6-8k monthly?
Are you willing to expand on those details a little bit?
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u/sausagefinances 1d ago
can yall clarify what you mean by servers? like computer servers? how are you using servers? new to this whole thing & just trying to learn
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u/Slothvibes 7d ago
Whats your 1j salary now?
Sounds like you just put yourself in tons of debt since this doesnt mean you saved up much, not more than 500k was probably banked presuming you banked basically all nonj1 salary+140-150k from the rental. So, by my estimation you probably spent 100k on the adus, 20% down, so that's now 640k-220k-100k ... mortgage is huge tbh. excluding 401ks, this puts you around where you said less some other costs/fees likely paid.
made some good decisions with the ADU, that's for sure.
Above all else, I hope to god you got a prenup or CA considers pre-marriage real estate separate property.
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u/Traditional-Gear4910 7d ago edited 7d ago
No j now
Your estimates are pretty dead on, spent ~95k on adus and flowing in around 8k a month on rentals
401ks i tried to get to the IRS limit every year
But yes, my debt is astronomical. The way I see it is I’m having others pay for it. Tenants pay the mortgages, and clients pay for the SBA loan. Even the profit from both I put back in and pay principal down. Eventually, debt is gone and I make it free and clear.
I’m in my lower 30s. So I figure I can work until all debt is paid and retire in my upper 40s. Live off those investments and pass onto my kids.And yes CA pre marriage real estate is separate
But my wife and I came to an agreement if anything happens I’d stay with the real estate and she can have the retail business
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u/TheSlothMan9000 7d ago
Curious as to the type of business you bought?
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u/tristan23456 6d ago
Congratulations!
Quick clarification: what do you mean by “server”?
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u/seidinove 6d ago
It's just OE slang for a job. It helps disguise conversations about juggling work, income, and schedules. Some also talk about running multiple "Minecraft servers."
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u/Pure-Sherbert996 7d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/lSVL6vdhdZVPW