Does your FTE company have a position similar to what you do in the PT capacity? Withouth knowing what it is you enjoy about the PT role, you should have a conversation with your manager about signing up for projects that will allow yourself to do something similar. In this pandemic environment, there is so much ambiguity. I wouldn't leave to pursue the startup as you have security right now with your current company. But if you can find a way to design the PT role into your company then that can probably work out better while waiting for something at the startup to become firm (at least 6 months - 1 year when hopefully we can resume some normalcy).

If you ask for fewer hours at your full-time job & they agree, you might find that it's not as well paying (especially if they cut your benefits). Are both jobs work-from-home jobs during covid? If you have a work computer & a personal computer... just do your full-time stuff on one computer & your part-time stuff on your other computer. Nobody needs to know that you're doing "other work" instead of listening to a podcast :) I worked at a start-up for 1 year. When they got bought, I had to find a different job because I didn't want to relocate to another state to keep the job... so start-ups can be fun, but also unpredictable because you don't know if/when they'll keep getting funded, go public, or get bought out. However, I would say don't do too much extra work at the start-up without getting paid for it. They'll probably take advantage of you because they can't help it, since they probably have very little control over their funding.

I have, but found a completely different job to do so. It wasn’t possible to keep my weekday hours with the job I was at, so I had to start looking elsewhere and now work three week-days, have a work life balance to spend time with my family, and it’s something that is positive, enjoyable, and where I am using my strengths. So, sometimes looking elsewhere is needed, which is so hard to do during these pandemic times. But this is of course after you have that conversation with your higher-ups!

as you think about this, also think about these tradeoffs: if you reduce your hours and your pay at the full-time but boring job and then the start-up fails, will you be able to get by on the reduced income? would you be comfortable having all or a majority of your income come from a startup that is contract-dependent?

How comfortable are you with your supervisor at your full-time job? Sometimes, it's worth it to just be up-front in a situation like this. Ask to speak to your supervisor and explain your situation. Be very clear that you don't want to leave your FT employment, but you don't feel like you're being well utilized, meanwhile at your PT job you are able to grow your career and skillset. It might also be worth checking with the people at your PT job to see if there are currently more things you could be helping with. Taking the hours cut at you FT job may not be worth it *right now* if your PT employer doesn't need more out of you. When that changes, you can look at swapping hours then.