5 ms·

Am I correct in thinking that you were told this was OK before you were hired, but they changed the rules after you signed the contract? That's dreadful. It's

Am I correct in thinking that you were told this was OK before you were hired, but they changed the rules after you signed the contract? That's dreadful. It's a shame you can't quit. (Bootstrapping while contracting is best when you own the consultancy company.)

DeusExMachina 17y ago
You are correct. It was just a little exchange. It went like this: "Do you want to keep your startup after you join us?" "Yes, I'd really like to." "Ok." Maybe I was too ingenuous and share part of the fault, I really don't know. There were no written rules anywhere, just this verbal agreement. The person was the same one that then told me I have to stop, the head of software development of the company.
- bensummers 17y ago
  Your fault? If that is what happened, you can only be blamed for believing your new boss was honourable. Obviously it would have been better to get it in writing, but even then, it still could be ignored and it's not like it's worth fighting.
  - lief79 17y ago
    You are going in based on faith. You should always get it in writing, if nothing else you are making sure that you are avoiding misunderstandings. It is required to be thorough, which is a sign of a good developer.
- rmc 17y ago
  In these cases it's good to scribble a little note in the margin of the contract at that section "Nothing in the above section shall prevent me from working on my side project XYZ in my free time" (or similar) and get them to initial it. You can always change contracts before you sign them.
  - DeusExMachina 17y ago
    The fact is that they don't want actually to do this. They stated clearly (I have written emails on this) that they are against it and if I want to do this I have to leave the company.
    - rmc 16y ago
      You should have done that before signing the contract. Then it's baked into the contract. My point is to get everything in writing before you sign things.

DeusExMachina 17y ago

You are correct. It was just a little exchange. It went like this: "Do you want to keep your startup after you join us?" "Yes, I'd really like to." "Ok." Maybe I was too ingenuous and share part of the fault, I really don't know. There were no written rules anywhere, just this verbal agreement. The person was the same one that then told me I have to stop, the head of software development of the company.

bensummers 17y ago
Your fault? If that is what happened, you can only be blamed for believing your new boss was honourable. Obviously it would have been better to get it in writing, but even then, it still could be ignored and it's not like it's worth fighting.
- lief79 17y ago
  You are going in based on faith. You should always get it in writing, if nothing else you are making sure that you are avoiding misunderstandings. It is required to be thorough, which is a sign of a good developer.
rmc 17y ago
In these cases it's good to scribble a little note in the margin of the contract at that section "Nothing in the above section shall prevent me from working on my side project XYZ in my free time" (or similar) and get them to initial it. You can always change contracts before you sign them.
- DeusExMachina 17y ago
  The fact is that they don't want actually to do this. They stated clearly (I have written emails on this) that they are against it and if I want to do this I have to leave the company.
  - rmc 16y ago
    You should have done that before signing the contract. Then it's baked into the contract. My point is to get everything in writing before you sign things.