Ask HN: Does your boss know about your side project?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9258002

by slckfielder08 • 11 years ago

13 12 11 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Are you open and let your employer know you have a side project? Or do you keep them in the dark and just work on it and leave the company when ready?

I'm trying to figure out the best balance without ruining current relationships.

virken2015• 11 years ago

Very little upside in sharing that info. Whether they are friend or foe, your managers role is to manage the best from you. If they perceive you to be distracted or giving less than your best, there's no upside for you. This also gives your manager plausible deniability she their manager asks whether they were aware of your activities and handles them correctly.

panorama• 11 years ago

You might be required to if you care about having legal protection over your intellectual property.

FWIW, I think most YC startups share their employee contracts, and in it, there's a section that mentions you are entitled to your own IP as long as you give notice of the side project AND you don't use any company resources on it (like working on company time, their laptops, etc.).

slckfielder08• 11 years ago

I disclosed on my employment contract for IP reasons. But I didn't go into specifics.

sstradling• 11 years ago

It depends. I trust my immediate supervisor (from experience), so I told her about my startup side project a month ago. I don't want to leave her short-handed, so I wanted her to have time to think of a succession plan.

OTOH, I officially let my chain of command know about my project last week (per company policy). I put it off as long as ethically possible because I do not have the same level of trust in them (also from experience). I do not know if there will be any repercussions.

If you trust (really trust) your supervisor, let them know. They'll appreciate it, and your team will thank you. If you don't, then don't. If you have IP agreements or other legal entanglements that they could use to destroy you, find someone with experience in those areas to advise you on a best path forward.

haidrali• 11 years ago

At the moment i am doing a side product but i don't think my BOSS would say anything on it, i am sure he will be delighted

chadkruse2• 11 years ago

As a manager I love seeing people have side projects. I've also learned it's pretty easy to figure out where their priorities lie. So, I think letting them know is generally a good thing, just be prepared to let them know everything if you do.

itsybitsycoder• 11 years ago

IOW don't tell them at all? As an employee I don't think everything is my manager's business. I've chatted with my manager about my side projects but if he started demanding to know everything, I would find it very rude and intrusive, and it would greatly lower my opinion of him. What I do off-hours and unrelated to the business is not something a manager has a right to know. Doesn't matter if that is programming or watching reality TV or attending a gorram orgy.

chadkruse2• 11 years ago

I'm simply suggesting people are good at filling in the blanks.

And yes, anyone with a manager like the one you describe should absolutely run for the hills :)

matheweis• 11 years ago

I run http://iconverticons.com/ on the side, along with the development of the corresponding Mac and Windows apps.

The University that employs me as a day job requires that I disclose any additional sources of employment or potential conflicts of interest... by that logic, I think I am obligated to disclose it. I do go to great lengths to make sure that I'm not using any University resources, don't do any work on the project while I'm there, etc.

My direct supervisor has always known that I develop apps on the side, thinks it's cool and it's otherwise not a big deal at all.

I think it's all about how much time it is taking and how you portray it. Is it a side project/hobby that you happen to make money on, or is it a fast-paced startup that you're spending 60 additional hrs of week on? Also, do you expect to have to leave your position soon, or are you still in for the long haul with your day job?

mindcrime• 11 years ago

Yes, he knew because we already knew each other before I joined his company.

some_furry• 11 years ago

My dayjob's CTO knows about some of my side projects. I keep it vague, however. "I work on a lot of open source projects in my off-time, for fun."

Then again, my side projects are more in the vein of, "Find security holes in Symfony," than, "Start a multi-million dollar enterprise."

zhte415• 11 years ago

Yes. I like full transparency, it saves headaches later.

She doesn't encourage it, nor discourages it. It is completely disjunct from what I do for my employer. And maybe somewhat intriguing, I don't know, she's just never asked for more information.

There's no reason not to hid something that shows another side of yourself, be it art, technology, business, trade, psychology, whatever. Assess the relationship with your colleagues first.

Heck, I had some colleagues that would regularly miss meetings because they were volunteer firefighters. That never caused them any shame.

Assess the conflict of interest. If there is none, declare it. If there is, then tread carefully, because you may be violating a contact you agreed to.

Ask HN: Does your boss know about your side project?

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