When you really think about it, it's utterly baffling that we've reached a state where the expected norm is that you literally aren't allowed to do some kind of labor (code) in your own time, because it 100% belongs to your employer.
@mcc@zkat I think it kinda depends on what the programming project is? I work on a website in my job, but they have no problem with my working on my own website in my own time. Or on embedded firmware. Or on retro-computing. Or just a wildly different programming language.
I have a senior tech job but don't work for a tech company directly, as long as I don't break GDPR or any other confidentiality law I can use at least parts of whatever I work on outside (though mostly hardware installs and infrastructure design - which is why the local community radio station has the exact same network infrastructure as in my office, and its run on obsolete hardware from my work (with their blessings, they don't want it cluttering up the offices)
@vfrmedia@static@zkat@rysiek I think we're talking about the US. if y'all are in Australia or the UK respectively I don't know whether anything about the framework in which you're working compares
in UK we do get USA companies trying to enforce the same conditions in contracts to prevent outside work (even voluntary stuff), but they are less enforceable and can only be justified to prevent a conflict of interest. It would be a lot harder here to argue someones work (even if in a related field) outside the workplace using their own resources is against an employment contract..
@zkat I had this problem where I took a job that would allow me to own work on my own time and then they immediately got bought by a company that could not allow this
@mcc@zkat the policy at my employer (an F100) is "as long as it doesn't create a conflict of interest" which in most cases is as simple as just "don't cross the streams" and keep work and personal completely separate. Write a library of assorted useful constructs for personal stuff? Can't use it for work without asking. Write that for work? Company code.
@mcc@zkat I thankfully have direct approval from my employer’s legal department to work on code related things (even for money) on the side, as long as it’s not a conflict of interest
@wenslauw@zkat The post is using hyperbole to make a point about a mindset. However the "straw man" position there, that GitHub contribution graphs show you who is a dedicated and "10x" coder and should tell you who to hire, is something I saw people saying on Twitter from time to time. It was not clear if any of these people were in a position to make hiring decisions or, if they were, if they were actually following the rule.
@mcc@zkat I have been known to obsess over coding and work excessive hours, but my GitHub account is nothing to write home about. There is some open source work in there, though.
@zkat imagine a carpenter like "listen, you make cabinets for me, if I fuckin hear a single peep about you building a birdhouse with your grandson you're DEAD"
it is, in fact, incredibly fucked up that I feel "lucky" to work for a company that "just" lets me do this "in my spare time".
I've been "lucky" my whole career, partly because I've explicitly avoided places with such clauses, and partly because when they tried to sneak them in, I told them to remove them.
But a lot of people don't have such "luck". And you gotta pay the bills, man.
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