> So if you apply for non-technical writing jobs, e.g. to be a columnist at The New York Times or The New Yorker, do they not read any of your preexisting work

> So if you apply for non-technical writing jobs, e.g. to be a columnist at The New York Times or The New Yorker, do they not read any of your preexisting work on the grounds that it could open them up to discrimination lawsuits? If you work in an industry where nothing is published publicly, and then demand to see people's side blogs and use that for hiring decisions, then yea that'll make lawyers at a big company a little skittish. It's a different thing when your job is to write things that everyone can see, vs having your company own everything you do.