No two-timing. No double lives. No moonlighting,” read a stern missive sent to Infosys employees this week. The email came days after Wipro’s Chairman Rishad Premji tweeted about moonlighting in the tech industry, calling it “cheating—plain and simple”. In an ongoing poll conducted by LinkedIn, 34 per cent (out of 5,417 votes) voted moonlighting as unethical. While many tech companies have joined the chorus against moonlighting, the practice of having a second job in addition to one’s regular employment, those in the work force see side hustles as a means to earn an extra income and in some cases, even pursue their passions.  

A case in point being Mumbai Piyush R*, who is currently employed with Infosys, but also has his own YouTube gaming channel. The Mumbai resident joined the tech company in 2020, and has been running his own YouTube channel for the last four months, making money through advertisements. “I feel my company could have a problem from the tax perspective, as they send me tax details [Form 16] based on my earnings. If I make money through another source, I will get a GST number,” he explains. Piyush says that money from the YouTube channel, which he runs anonymously, will help fund the master’s course that he plans to apply for in the US. “Work from home and a good work-life balance made it possible.”