> A contract's a starting point for negotiation, not something set in stone. If you don't want your side projects owned by the company, then ask for the clause

> A contract's a starting point for negotiation, not something set in stone. If you don't want your side projects owned by the company, then ask for the clause to be removed/amended. The problem was also that we had two legal documents, the contract, and the "house"-rules. The contract just stated that "The contract refers and includes the house-rules". It would require a lot of rework for them to rewrite my contract so only the part about ownership of code was amended, but all the other house-rules still applied. It was my first job after finishing school, and the place was nice, and I figured it wouldn't be a problem, but I was wrong, and it kept irritating me.