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If the CEO didn’t throw a tantrum over the exact things his company claims to support (OSS, creativity, etc.), nobody would know about the intern’s weekend proj

If the CEO didn’t throw a tantrum over the exact things his company claims to support (OSS, creativity, etc.), nobody would know about the intern’s weekend project. But he did, and now we’ll see something of a Streisand effect [0]. To be fair, it is kind of suspect to intern for a company and, at the end of that internship, turn around and create effectively the same thing. And OP’s dismissive tone and propensity to hand wave away things that may be relevant in his blogpost certainly don’t make them seem ideal to employ. But ‘suspect’ only in the sense that (in my personal opinion) it gives credence to the CEO’s comment on the intern being difficult. I still think replit is in the wrong here. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

colonwqbang 5y ago
Is it really? It's what he learned to do at the company, so now he's doing it. If the product was really unique, maybe. But from the description it seems to be a generic online repl.
gabeio 5y ago
I had nearly the same feeling while reading this and specifically finally getting to the part where the author mentions they were an intern. Being an intern at the company is kinda important to this story, had they not been an intern at the company I think this would have been a vastly different conversation. I honestly think both are in the wrong here, the CEO should have been a bit more relaxed about the handling of this. As well the intern really should have tried to stay away from projects which directly relate to past company business models. I also question if this article could be considered defamatory.
- shkkmo 5y ago
  Non-competes are unethical and also illegal in California where replit is based. Edit: They aren't technically "illegal" in CA, just unenforceable.
  - gabeio 5y ago
    Based on what I am reading, unless I am misunderstanding, which considering how our laws are written I'm surprised anyone is capable of understanding them entirely. https://www.callahan-law.com/are-non-competes-enforceable-in-california/ https://www.callahan-law.com/are-non-competes-enforceable-in... (where I am reading up about this from) It seems California outlawed non-competes in the sense that if I am a programmer, and I sign a contract which states that I must not be a programmer for the next 5 years after working for X, that is instantly voided. But this is different, as an intern I copied in essence the core business model (not directly copying the code) and open sourced it, seems like a conflict of interest. Which in this case a non-compete might be able to be held as it's mostly saying I'm a programmer for a company which does X, I can't move to a competitor, or become a competitor (which is somewhat what the intern did). As someone who is definitely not a lawyer or judge I have no idea where the laws/courts or otherwise stand on this matter in actuality.
    - shkkmo 5y ago
      I think your understanding is incorrect. That site says specifically says without qualification: > In other words, non-compete agreements are not enforceable in California. Edit: I don't think it has ever been possible to bar employees from continuing their profession when they leave your employ. Non-competes have ALWAYS been about working for competitors.
    - jjeaff 5y ago
      In California, you would have the burden of proof that your business was damaged by the actions of the employee you allege is in breach of contract. The business would also be on the hook for the employees legal fees if they can't prevail. Add to that, i don't see any copying of a "business model" here. Seeing as the ex-intern is not even charging for his software and is giving away the source code for free.
    - m-ee 5y ago
      You are reading that wrong, the agreement you describe would not be enforceable in California The only part of a non compete that is valid to my knowledge is that if an employee leaves for a competitor the company can have them sign an agreement not to poach employees, but even that is very limited. If Bob leaves company A for company B and signs such an agreement, his former coworker Alice is free to say "Hi Bob I'm really excited by company B can I have a referral?" Bob didn't make first contact so he's free to help bring Alice over.
- karagenit 5y ago
  I think for something to be legal defamation, it has to be demonstrably false. This article seems pretty safe, since it's mostly direct screenshots of the emails sent by the CEO.
cycomanic 5y ago
He interned there two years ago, I would hardly call this at the end of the internship turn around.
Dah00n 5y ago
Well, let's hope repl.it wasn't started by someone working on the same kind of tech at another well-known brand. It would be ironic or "kind of suspect", no? https://www.codecademy.com/resources/blog/amjad-joins-codecademy/ https://www.codecademy.com/resources/blog/amjad-joins-codeca...
- qnsi 5y ago
  this was before amasad created replit as an open source project

colonwqbang 5y ago

Is it really? It's what he learned to do at the company, so now he's doing it. If the product was really unique, maybe. But from the description it seems to be a generic online repl.

gabeio 5y ago

I had nearly the same feeling while reading this and specifically finally getting to the part where the author mentions they were an intern. Being an intern at the company is kinda important to this story, had they not been an intern at the company I think this would have been a vastly different conversation. I honestly think both are in the wrong here, the CEO should have been a bit more relaxed about the handling of this. As well the intern really should have tried to stay away from projects which directly relate to past company business models. I also question if this article could be considered defamatory.

shkkmo 5y ago
Non-competes are unethical and also illegal in California where replit is based. Edit: They aren't technically "illegal" in CA, just unenforceable.
- gabeio 5y ago
  Based on what I am reading, unless I am misunderstanding, which considering how our laws are written I'm surprised anyone is capable of understanding them entirely. https://www.callahan-law.com/are-non-competes-enforceable-in-california/ https://www.callahan-law.com/are-non-competes-enforceable-in... (where I am reading up about this from) It seems California outlawed non-competes in the sense that if I am a programmer, and I sign a contract which states that I must not be a programmer for the next 5 years after working for X, that is instantly voided. But this is different, as an intern I copied in essence the core business model (not directly copying the code) and open sourced it, seems like a conflict of interest. Which in this case a non-compete might be able to be held as it's mostly saying I'm a programmer for a company which does X, I can't move to a competitor, or become a competitor (which is somewhat what the intern did). As someone who is definitely not a lawyer or judge I have no idea where the laws/courts or otherwise stand on this matter in actuality.
  - shkkmo 5y ago
    I think your understanding is incorrect. That site says specifically says without qualification: > In other words, non-compete agreements are not enforceable in California. Edit: I don't think it has ever been possible to bar employees from continuing their profession when they leave your employ. Non-competes have ALWAYS been about working for competitors.
  - jjeaff 5y ago
    In California, you would have the burden of proof that your business was damaged by the actions of the employee you allege is in breach of contract. The business would also be on the hook for the employees legal fees if they can't prevail. Add to that, i don't see any copying of a "business model" here. Seeing as the ex-intern is not even charging for his software and is giving away the source code for free.
  - m-ee 5y ago
    You are reading that wrong, the agreement you describe would not be enforceable in California The only part of a non compete that is valid to my knowledge is that if an employee leaves for a competitor the company can have them sign an agreement not to poach employees, but even that is very limited. If Bob leaves company A for company B and signs such an agreement, his former coworker Alice is free to say "Hi Bob I'm really excited by company B can I have a referral?" Bob didn't make first contact so he's free to help bring Alice over.
karagenit 5y ago
I think for something to be legal defamation, it has to be demonstrably false. This article seems pretty safe, since it's mostly direct screenshots of the emails sent by the CEO.

cycomanic 5y ago

He interned there two years ago, I would hardly call this at the end of the internship turn around.

Dah00n 5y ago

Well, let's hope repl.it wasn't started by someone working on the same kind of tech at another well-known brand. It would be ironic or "kind of suspect", no? https://www.codecademy.com/resources/blog/amjad-joins-codecademy/ https://www.codecademy.com/resources/blog/amjad-joins-codeca...

qnsi 5y ago
this was before amasad created replit as an open source project