4 ms·

Just don't tell them. I told my employer and all my work colleages I had a really boring hobby, Chemistry (something I am actually interested in) Then bang on

Just don't tell them. I told my employer and all my work colleages I had a really boring hobby, Chemistry (something I am actually interested in) Then bang on about it every chance you can get. Go into elaborate detail about the most boring parts. After a few weeks people will learn to leave you alone. Make sure you always have an answer for "what are you doing tonight", "what are you doing this weekend" be super excited about it, but make sure it's really boring. Then when it's time to leave tell them you're going travelling around Europe and you have no idea what job you will do next. Launch your product, and never work the 9-5 again (it's a new type of work now) That's what I did. I know people are gonna say "Thats risky", "You could get sued" etc etc etc ... but you know what? Life is risky, and if you dont have the guts, my answer to you is that this is the least of your problems running a startup : maybe you should stay in that 9-5

icedchai 7y ago
Yep. About 15 years ago I made the mistake of telling a coworker about a side hustle. He ratted me out to a VP. I had an interesting conversation the next week, but at the end of the day, nothing happened.
- bartozone 7y ago
  Just talk to the VP before it becomes anything significant and get clearance. If you want to start something and they say no, then you know in advance and you can decide if you want to leave or not. If you start a serious side business and they find out without you having told them, then it's problematic. You signed a contract when you started. If you didn't sign anything then you are free to do as you like. But this is probably an unlikely scenario.
  - icedchai 7y ago
    Fortunately, that VP (or anyone else) doesn't control what I do in my free time.
    - lifeisstillgood 7y ago
      sadly that very much depends on the contract you signed
thecleaner 7y ago
If you don't use company euqipment could you still get into trouble ? Like let's assume I don't even the gitlab/github page of the project. Will that also cause problems ?
- ghaff 7y ago
  Depends on what you've signed, what state/country you're in, and how much the company cares even if it's technically a violation.
- rst 7y ago
  Answers to that depend on state employment law -- California has an explicit proviso that employment contracts can't claim certain work the employee did on their own time, with their own stuff. But most states don't, and even California's provision has limits -- IIRC, the project has to be unrelated to the business, and what's unrelated to Google's business these days? Or Amazon's? I've gotten explicit waivers from my employer for unrelated projects, which hasn't been a problem. But people who just don't tell the boss run the risk of legal action if they find out about it by other means -- so, at the very least, I'd suggest a chat with a lawyer well-versed in your state's employment laws before working on any side project of potential commercial value, with your employment paperwork in hand (especially the Intellectual Property assignment contracts, or their equivalent), so you have some concrete idea what risks you're running.
  - thecleaner 7y ago
    Is there a tool or something to check this ? Like for example what language to look out for in employment contracts ?
    - rst 7y ago
      If anything, what you'd be looking for is the _absence_ of language restricting claims to work done using the employer's facilities -- but whatever's there really needs to be read in context of the whole agreement, and the applicable state law. There's no phrase search yet that can substitute for a lawyer with relevant knowledge.
bartozone 7y ago
Don't do this ... If you build a side project without your employers knowledge, especially if it's in a similar space, and you are successful ... your ex-employer and their investors will make your life very very difficult. In my experience, companies don't care if you're working on a non-competing idea. Just get clearance before hand. No need to take a risk here.
geofft 7y ago
> I know people are gonna say "Thats risky", "You could get sued" etc etc etc ... but you know what? Life is risky, and if you dont have the guts, my answer to you is that this is the least of your problems running a startup : maybe you should stay in that 9-5 I don't know about you, but when I do things, I do them to succeed, not to demonstrate how much guts I have.
- malux85 7y ago
  My point is that risk taking is a prerequisite of success

icedchai 7y ago

Yep. About 15 years ago I made the mistake of telling a coworker about a side hustle. He ratted me out to a VP. I had an interesting conversation the next week, but at the end of the day, nothing happened.

bartozone 7y ago
Just talk to the VP before it becomes anything significant and get clearance. If you want to start something and they say no, then you know in advance and you can decide if you want to leave or not. If you start a serious side business and they find out without you having told them, then it's problematic. You signed a contract when you started. If you didn't sign anything then you are free to do as you like. But this is probably an unlikely scenario.
- icedchai 7y ago
  Fortunately, that VP (or anyone else) doesn't control what I do in my free time.
  - lifeisstillgood 7y ago
    sadly that very much depends on the contract you signed

thecleaner 7y ago

If you don't use company euqipment could you still get into trouble ? Like let's assume I don't even the gitlab/github page of the project. Will that also cause problems ?

ghaff 7y ago
Depends on what you've signed, what state/country you're in, and how much the company cares even if it's technically a violation.
rst 7y ago
Answers to that depend on state employment law -- California has an explicit proviso that employment contracts can't claim certain work the employee did on their own time, with their own stuff. But most states don't, and even California's provision has limits -- IIRC, the project has to be unrelated to the business, and what's unrelated to Google's business these days? Or Amazon's? I've gotten explicit waivers from my employer for unrelated projects, which hasn't been a problem. But people who just don't tell the boss run the risk of legal action if they find out about it by other means -- so, at the very least, I'd suggest a chat with a lawyer well-versed in your state's employment laws before working on any side project of potential commercial value, with your employment paperwork in hand (especially the Intellectual Property assignment contracts, or their equivalent), so you have some concrete idea what risks you're running.
- thecleaner 7y ago
  Is there a tool or something to check this ? Like for example what language to look out for in employment contracts ?
  - rst 7y ago
    If anything, what you'd be looking for is the _absence_ of language restricting claims to work done using the employer's facilities -- but whatever's there really needs to be read in context of the whole agreement, and the applicable state law. There's no phrase search yet that can substitute for a lawyer with relevant knowledge.

bartozone 7y ago

Don't do this ... If you build a side project without your employers knowledge, especially if it's in a similar space, and you are successful ... your ex-employer and their investors will make your life very very difficult. In my experience, companies don't care if you're working on a non-competing idea. Just get clearance before hand. No need to take a risk here.

geofft 7y ago

> I know people are gonna say "Thats risky", "You could get sued" etc etc etc ... but you know what? Life is risky, and if you dont have the guts, my answer to you is that this is the least of your problems running a startup : maybe you should stay in that 9-5 I don't know about you, but when I do things, I do them to succeed, not to demonstrate how much guts I have.

malux85 7y ago
My point is that risk taking is a prerequisite of success