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> It's true but they also have a reasonable set of processes for open sourcing things. So its "mother may I?" for the 'privilege' of working for such a shit co

> It's true but they also have a reasonable set of processes for open sourcing things. So its "mother may I?" for the 'privilege' of working for such a shit company? For a company to claim ownership of everything I do when not working is called indentured servitude or slavery.

cmrdporcupine 5y ago
I came to the conclusion early on that that is the nature of capitalist work generally, so pick your poison. I don't agree with the whole system, but also don't think this employer is worse than most others on that front. It's just formulated in a legal clause where other employers might just litigate later if they needed to. I get paid well, and have never had a problem -- or seen others have problems -- open sourcing things where it made sense; including things that I worked on at work during work hours such as abandoned/cancelled projects or things that made sense for the community to have access to. EDIT: also your tone sucks, this is HN not reddit.
mondoshawan 5y ago
No, realistically, it is called exempt salary works for hire, and there are legal limits to it. No salaried job has "set hours". The limits you can work with are: working on your own equipment, non-working hours, working on it at home in an area not typically used for $dayjob, the subject of the work, and above all else your locality. These agreements are generally overreaches by the lawyers drafting them, depending on the nature of the job. Remember: no contract can limit rights granted to you under the law, every contract has limits, and you cannot be prevented from working, even if stated otherwise. Washington, for instance, has state laws against this kind of IP assignment. IANAL, so don't read into this too much, but I have consulted IP attorneys about this. If you're doing something like this, definitely consult -- the kind of work you do does matter. In this guy's case, it seems he does have a conflict of interest w.r.t. the work he does for IBM.
- Communitivity 5y ago
  Many consultancies do, as you have billable hours and even your non-billable hours have to be accounted for. These are your hours on company time.
  - mondoshawan 5y ago
    We weren't talking about contracting or consultancies...

cmrdporcupine 5y ago

I came to the conclusion early on that that is the nature of capitalist work generally, so pick your poison. I don't agree with the whole system, but also don't think this employer is worse than most others on that front. It's just formulated in a legal clause where other employers might just litigate later if they needed to. I get paid well, and have never had a problem -- or seen others have problems -- open sourcing things where it made sense; including things that I worked on at work during work hours such as abandoned/cancelled projects or things that made sense for the community to have access to. EDIT: also your tone sucks, this is HN not reddit.

mondoshawan 5y ago

No, realistically, it is called exempt salary works for hire, and there are legal limits to it. No salaried job has "set hours". The limits you can work with are: working on your own equipment, non-working hours, working on it at home in an area not typically used for $dayjob, the subject of the work, and above all else your locality. These agreements are generally overreaches by the lawyers drafting them, depending on the nature of the job. Remember: no contract can limit rights granted to you under the law, every contract has limits, and you cannot be prevented from working, even if stated otherwise. Washington, for instance, has state laws against this kind of IP assignment. IANAL, so don't read into this too much, but I have consulted IP attorneys about this. If you're doing something like this, definitely consult -- the kind of work you do does matter. In this guy's case, it seems he does have a conflict of interest w.r.t. the work he does for IBM.

Communitivity 5y ago
Many consultancies do, as you have billable hours and even your non-billable hours have to be accounted for. These are your hours on company time.
- mondoshawan 5y ago
  We weren't talking about contracting or consultancies...