> In a lot of jobs, people end up in a situation where they are actively discouraged from doing anything on the side because it's always hard to know if they're

> In a lot of jobs, people end up in a situation where they are actively discouraged from doing anything on the side because it's always hard to know if they're even allowed. Just don't sign one of those contracts. I treat that as a hard deal-breaker when I'm job searching. If a clause like that is present in an offer, I tell them they have to remove it or otherwise narrow it to cover only the work that is their legitimate business. If they refuse, I refuse the offer. It may take a little extra searching to do things this way, but it's possible if it's important to you. My job is not my entire life. I won't have it casting a pall over my every waking moment. Alternately: if your projects are not central to your happiness like mine are, typically the worst your company could do is say "we own that now", not forbid it exactly. So if a project is purely educational - you're not attached to it - then you probably have nothing to worry about. You could also get written permission for specific projects or contributions you'd like to make.