> your second job is working on OSS on github to make yourself look good

Sounds good on paper. In practice, what people do on Github is worthless.

I've only one company ever actually looked at what I made on GitHub. Otherwise, they'll never check out what I've done even if a project is listed on a resume. Nobody has the time or amount of shits to give to actually review your own code. Very few people I know who are working as software engineers even have any serious projects or contributions on GitHub.

As much as I love doing side projects, the idea that companies care what I do on GitHub is some of the worst advice I've encountered. Now my profile is full of trash I've forked along the way and it hasn't made a lick of difference as to how many interviews I've gotten.

I’m not frequently involved in hiring, but when I’m looking at a resume for a potential coworker I will check their github. If it’s shit, that doesn’t matter at all to me, but if it has some neat stuff I will look deeper, and the bar for “interview” and “hire” can be substantially lowered for the in-person interview.

Basically, I’m looking for good signal, but that can show in a lot of different ways for different people. If OSS or side project or whatever is something you enjoy doing, or if you’re not working full time and struggling to prove that you can bring the goods, these sorts of things can help you.

It’s a bit extreme to say putting projects on GitHub is worthless when it comes to generating job opportunities. In my experience, if you’ve got a project that delivers a ton of value to a suffiently large set of people, somebody usually will reach out.

I had a look at the github of someone we were interviewing. He had azure credentials committed in one of his projects. We have him a pass.

Most interviews are during my work hours. Do you take a day off for each?

You have 2 choices. You can do it discretely; after work hours, no the may not contact my employer. Or, you can do it openly; multi-hour lunch breaks, lots of personal time off, and your LinkedIn profile is super active.

The latter will either get you a salary increase or you'll be shown the door. Ask me how I know.

I haven't had an on-site yet that didn't require blocking off an entire day.

I have had half-days (my company does that too) which pretty much require a full day off.

I guess it helps to work remote a lot. Much easier to disappear for a while.

Is this serious advice? Because this sounds to me like a great way to get burned out...

No, it's a joke.

I don't want a second/third job. I want to spend my time off with my family and loved ones.

Sorry, you're rejected for not being passionate enough. Also, you have a family, so you're too old to work here anyway. But we can't say that last part out loud.