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Do not do anything non-work related on company equipment! Ever, for any reason, seriously don't do it! Do not even research the idea! Assume the company is logg

Do not do anything non-work related on company equipment! Ever, for any reason, seriously don't do it! Do not even research the idea! Assume the company is logging everything. They likely are. Honestly, I'd just focus on work and learn if you are just starting out. Learn as much as you can while employed by other folks (they are basically paying you to learn). Learn as much about the business your company is in too. For example, say you are a software dev at a VFX company. You might only care about your specific dev project in a tiny silo. But, learn the larger context of where your piece fits into the bigger company picture or industry. Learn about your company, where it fits into the bigger picture, where are things headed in your industry. This will open all types of jobs opportunities as you can pivot around in your industry. Why are you doing what you are doing? This will really help you down the road when you start your company as you want to think of the larger workflows and where you fit in. Focus on workflows as the underlining tech constantly changes (but workflows rarely do)! Running a company is a 24/7 thing, you will not get weekend or nights off, so don't burn yourself out working for someone else and doing your own thing useless you really think it will work. I have tons of 10% complete projects that I thought where good ideas but never panned out. So, just play around and see what might work. Don't take it all the way unless you are really sure. If you want a job at something like gitlab. Hangout on their open-source project, learn their codebase, and send in patches. Even if they are simple docs patches. Send in 50 of those and you will start to learn the devs. Ask one of them what it is like to work there, ask them to refer you, etc. The CEO of gitlab is constantly on HN (I swear he has an alert for mention of gitlab). So, he will likely see this post. My point, take some initiative and try not to go through the conventional recruiter pipe (apply on website and no one ever gets back to you cycle). Doing this, has worked out really well for me in the past, and it will work for you too. Sure, it is more work but gets you ahead of everyone else as you are making an effort. Be strategic about this and really choose who you want to work for and go after them. Having something like, hey, I patched 50 minor typos in your code/docs goes a long way, between you and some nobody!

Kaotique 7y ago
I find that first advice a bit paranoid. What country are you from where it is normal that a company is logging and spying on its employers? I have a company laptop but there is no logging whatsoever. Outside office hours I use this laptop to do personal stuff all the time.
- raphaelj 7y ago
  Indeed. Also, I remember that when the GDPR got implemented in the EU, I had to agree on a new contract amendment in which the company legally had to list all the data that was collected on its employees (e.g. emails, personal info like age, address and income, ...).
  - freehunter 7y ago
    GDPR includes an exemption for companies logging information that is required to maintain the security of their infrastructure. This includes things like logging employee's DNS requests, AV logs, DHCP logs, web proxy, etc. Things that are fundamental to ensuring the security of the corporate network and the data it contains. That means even under GDPR, your employer could (and should) monitor what you're doing on their company-owned assets.
- evgen 7y ago
  In many countries if you have a company laptop then everything on that laptop or done on that laptop belong to the company. They are unlikely to be spying on your directly, but they will often have administrative access, will perform backups to ensure continuity of business data you are working on etc. If you leave and start a competing company someone in IT is going to get a call asking them to check your archived data (email, etc.) to see if you were working on this new company while using old company equipment or during old company time. If they find evidence of this then in many jurisdictions you are going to be in trouble... Save the headache and use your own equipment. At the very least have a personal VM that you run to do your personal work on.
  - Kaotique 7y ago
    I appreciate your concern, but in this case, there is really nothing going on this laptop that I am not aware of. Company e-mail is archived somewhere in Google but I obviously don't use my company e-mail for personal use. I am a bit surprised that multiple people here are living in such a permanent state of paranoia.
Grustaf 7y ago
I don’t think this is relevant even in the US, Silicon Valley notwithstanding. And it is definitely not relevant in Europe.
alecco 7y ago
> Do not do anything non-work related on company equipment! And ideally don't bring work equipment home (i.e. laptop). This could be used against you. Low probability but high impact for you.
- taormina 7y ago
  If only I could be on-call and fix things without my laptop.....

Kaotique 7y ago

I find that first advice a bit paranoid. What country are you from where it is normal that a company is logging and spying on its employers? I have a company laptop but there is no logging whatsoever. Outside office hours I use this laptop to do personal stuff all the time.

raphaelj 7y ago
Indeed. Also, I remember that when the GDPR got implemented in the EU, I had to agree on a new contract amendment in which the company legally had to list all the data that was collected on its employees (e.g. emails, personal info like age, address and income, ...).
- freehunter 7y ago
  GDPR includes an exemption for companies logging information that is required to maintain the security of their infrastructure. This includes things like logging employee's DNS requests, AV logs, DHCP logs, web proxy, etc. Things that are fundamental to ensuring the security of the corporate network and the data it contains. That means even under GDPR, your employer could (and should) monitor what you're doing on their company-owned assets.
evgen 7y ago
In many countries if you have a company laptop then everything on that laptop or done on that laptop belong to the company. They are unlikely to be spying on your directly, but they will often have administrative access, will perform backups to ensure continuity of business data you are working on etc. If you leave and start a competing company someone in IT is going to get a call asking them to check your archived data (email, etc.) to see if you were working on this new company while using old company equipment or during old company time. If they find evidence of this then in many jurisdictions you are going to be in trouble... Save the headache and use your own equipment. At the very least have a personal VM that you run to do your personal work on.
- Kaotique 7y ago
  I appreciate your concern, but in this case, there is really nothing going on this laptop that I am not aware of. Company e-mail is archived somewhere in Google but I obviously don't use my company e-mail for personal use. I am a bit surprised that multiple people here are living in such a permanent state of paranoia.

Grustaf 7y ago

I don’t think this is relevant even in the US, Silicon Valley notwithstanding. And it is definitely not relevant in Europe.

alecco 7y ago

> Do not do anything non-work related on company equipment! And ideally don't bring work equipment home (i.e. laptop). This could be used against you. Low probability but high impact for you.

taormina 7y ago
If only I could be on-call and fix things without my laptop.....