as a programmer, one of the things i look for in a company is a willingness to let a guy like me play around with technology on the side and not have scary lega

as a programmer, one of the things i look for in a company is a willingness to let a guy like me play around with technology on the side and not have scary legal documentation concerning their ownership of it. while i work for a startup at the moment, my previous employer (a well-known language learning software company) actively discouraged its employees from pursuing any side projects. if you're looking to hire someone who's driven, this is a terrible idea; a good programmer will always be thinking of something, mulling some problem over in his head. probably several, a few of which aren't related to his job. if he has to worry about whether or not he can legally work on these things outside of his regular employment, he's less likely to explore, and less likely to learn on his own time. so hiring managers and legal departments: look for someone who checks over the contracts for ownership rights and complains if they're too strict.