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I know of a guy, but his scenario was quite unique. I was working for an energy company who shall remain nameless, but who's internal IT was a tangle of externa
by Simon_O_Rourke 1y ago
I know of a guy, but his scenario was quite unique. I was working for an energy company who shall remain nameless, but who's internal IT was a tangle of external consultants milking the place for millions, and ineffective/underserved full time staff who couldn't run a query on a database without a change control committee of consultants milking them for yet more cash.
Anyway, this guy was the go to guy for gas customers, and knew the database inside and out. So he created his own company, resigned as a full time employee, waited until the panic had set in properly.
Then he offered consulting services back to the energy company saying he'd take care of any database processing costs, or cloud migration costs or whatever, and moved the customer data for gas customers to his own system. Then he created an API, waited a while more and said he was going away again.... Or he could stay supporting this setup if the energy company agreed to a monthly fee and API usage. Then, as far as I know, he sat back and just watched the money roll in while he automated everything else about the job.
- thasso 1y agoIs this legal? How frequently do people with unique knowledge in a company pull things like this off?
- cootsnuck 1y agoAll the time. The company is usually begrudgingly okay with it too because they'd rather a former employee sell their expertise back to them instead of a competitor. I guess check your employment contracts and whatnot, but it's very common for people to leave a company and start consulting and/or freelancing in the expertise they gained at that company. And it's not too uncommon for former employers to be one of their first clients or get your first clients from relationships associated with your former employer. All of this assumes you don't burn bridges and have the interpersonal skills, in-demand expertise, luck, timing, and interest in building out a small service-based business.
- collingreen 1y agoLegal? Are you implying that having knowledge in a company (like, the result of doing a good job?) somehow should legally obligate you to never stop working there? What am I missing? Can you spell out some boundaries for what you're implying because I must be wildly missing it.
- franky47 1y ago> moved the customer data for gas customers to his own system That sounds highly illegal.
- cootsnuck 1y agoIT services companies / MSPs aren't illegal. I'm sure this was all detailed in a contract looked over by lawyers.
- jt2190 1y agoI assume “customers” means internal customers, i.e. business units at the energy company who had come to rely on this guy’s ability to navigate the insane I.T. and actually get things done for them.
- ambicapter 1y agoSounds like extortion with extra steps? Maybe there’s a more charitable way to tell the story.
- harvey9 1y agoSounds like the guy just got tired of being on salary in a place that was badly run.
- Simon_O_Rourke 1y agoYes he did, I think he saw the weakness in the org and exploited it properly.
- nkrisc 1y agoWithout debating whether it’s ethical, it doesn’t sound like extortion. It sounds like taking advantage of dysfunctional decision making in an organization.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- __turbobrew__ 1y agoIt sounds like the employee is actually getting what they are worth. Lots of huge organizations require a single key person in order to function, and most of the time those key people are not compensated accordingly. The company could have called the bluff and passed on the consulting services.
- justsomehnguy 1y ago>> resigned as a full time employee, waited until the panic had set in properly The company couldn't even function without that person. Calling that an extortion is quite a leap.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
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- Havoc 1y agoaka he joined the squad of consultants. Just with better and more automated process