31–40 of 92 posts
Be careful, many contracts contain parts that give full ownership of what you make on company time to your employer. You might loose your dream if you are not careful.
Some contracts will have a section regarding intellectual property, you either have to list everything you want to keep and make updates as needed or your employer can claim your IP especially if it is within the same realm of the work you do for your employer.
"working for the man". This "man" is paying for you to do a job. You don't have to do it if you don't want to, you can go back and live at your parents house. Excuse me if I'm sounding rude but you sound very young, and unaware that what you are doing is illegal and seem to have misplaced resentment
I wouldn't fault any employee for slacking off, because almost everybody is underpaid, has no real share of ownership, no loyalty... it's an adversarial relationship of the employers' making.
That doesn't make sense. If someone is underpaid, they make less than most other people who do the same job. If "almost everybody" is making a certain amount, then they aren't underpaid -- they make the market rate.
- shitty enterprise software, on one of the worst code bases I've ever seen - Managers are very hands-off here, not many meetings either I was in a similar spot. You can get away with a ton of stuff in an environment like this, but as you've probably guessed, it will quickly bore you or the code base will invoke tears. Bonus if they let you work from home, and they probably would if you come up with a decent reason.…
Do you realize that this is your fault too? Your job is to manage, maintain and improve the code-base but, instead, you choose to take advantage of the fact that you still get paid because people aren't micromanaging you and forcing you to do your job.
You should realize that lousy codebases and micromanagers exist because of the people who act like you are acting -- without a sense of personal responsibility and accountability.
Your lack of responsibility and commitment is a central reason why things are lousy for the rest of us.
1. All employees should do the very minimum amount of work possible to sustain the relationship with their employer and meet their own personal goals. Check all the boxes, but don't go above and beyond unless there is a direct benefit to you (promotion, bonus, etc). If you can check all those boxes in just a fraction of the time, great!
2. If you're bootstrapping, keep the paycheck job as long as you can. Keep it, even if you hate it, until you HAVE to make a decision about working as a Founder or as an Employee. The longer that paycheck is coming in, the longer you'll be able to survive on ramen profitability. The more money you save (you're going into this with savings, right?) the better you'll fare in thin times.
Working for the man sucks, but running a struggling business while barely surviving can be worse. Running a struggling business with financial cushion can mean the difference between succeeding and failing.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is it illegal? There might be a civil case (can you sue an employee for laziness?) but I am unaware of a criminal statute on slacking off.
I'd imagine he means that all the side project work op is doing is technically owned by his employer, so using it for his own gain is illegal.
With that being said, OP is probably doing the work from his employer's office, which is definitely a breach of any employment contract I've ever signed.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is it illegal? There might be a civil case (can you sue an employee for laziness?) but I am unaware of a criminal statute on slacking off.
I'd imagine he means that all the side project work op is doing is technically owned by his employer, so using it for his own gain is illegal.
I think the real question is: are you being honest with yourself?
The last time you asked this it was more along the lines of "I hate my job and want out, btw I have wife and 1 child" and now it's more cooled down to "I've accepted that I hate my job and I'm sort of just punishing them with my lack of direction in life" and then looking for someone to make the decision(s) for you, here, /again/ evidently.
So are you being honest with yourself? Apart from income, what do you actually WANT to be doing? When you "work full time for yourself" are you going to have the motivation to do that? What direction do you have already, and what do you want your direction to change into or continue to be?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is it illegal? There might be a civil case (can you sue an employee for laziness?) but I am unaware of a criminal statute on slacking off.
I'd imagine he means that all the side project work op is doing is technically owned by his employer, so using it for his own gain is illegal.
Why not quit the job and be fair to both yourself and the business that hired you? It's just like a relationship, leave if it's not working. The end of any relationship can be liberating in so many aspects.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wouldn't fault any employee for slacking off, because almost everybody is underpaid, has no real share of ownership, no loyalty... it's an adversarial relationship of the employers' making.
> almost everybody is underpaid That doesn't make sense. If someone is underpaid, they make less than most other people who do the same job. If "almost everybody" is making a certain amount, then they aren't underpaid -- they make the market rate.