Answer:
It will depend on your employer. Many will have a clause in the employment agreement limiting or prohibiting outside work without permission, especially in the same field. You’ll also need to think about the logistics of trying to juggle both sets of responsibilities. It’s going to be hard to sell work as an independent consultant if you can’t meet with or speak to clients during business hours, when you’d presumably be at your full-time job. Likewise, if you need to visit the client site to do your consulting work, how would you do that while working full-time? I can’t think of a lot of consulting opportunities that you could do entirely in the evenings or on weekends, and I don’t think your boss at your full time job would allow you to field calls for your own outside business at work.
When I started out in consulting, I moved from a job at a large university, where I was also teaching a class. I agreed to do essential work for my old boss as a consultant at night and on weekends until they could hire a replacement. After a few weeks on the job, I casually mentioned this to my supervisor at the new job, who showed me the clause in the employment handbook that didn’t allow me to consult for anyone else while employed there. I had to end that arrangement. However, the consulting firm was fine with my continuing to teach at the university, as they didn’t consider that a conflict
