There’s a specific idea we have about moonlighting:  a trend that emerged in the pandemic.  Engineers tasked with sitting at home and delivering their product saw that their skills were so valuable, that it was possible to extract more money out of them by working in two places at once. So a person would either consult with multiple organizations on the side, or work in more businesses than one, using the skills they had already, to extract more income out of it.

But this episode, what we’re talking about is entirely different. 

This is moonlighting not to extract more money for the skills you already have, but moonlighting to demonstrate new skills and new experience. This is moonlighting to stay relevant.

And it turns out, even those with most professional experience find that they have to do it. To survive.