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An Email Thread Between a Developer and Gigster

andychase.me

31–40 of 271 posts

Re: An Email Thread Between a Developer and Gigster

#31
post #11

That classic "well, nobody else has had a problem, so you must be the problem" response. I remember at one of my first jobs, myself and another programmer were working on a side project (outside of work hours, not using company resources in any way) that were considering monetising. Our contracts stated that the company we worked for owned all of our code produced in and out of working hours. We got to the business e…

Just curious, what did the lawyer you consulted with say about it?

Re: An Email Thread Between a Developer and Gigster

#32
I do contract work a lot in the UK through recruitment agencies. I very often provide feedback like this, especially when i'm asked to opt-out of the agency regulations. I never opt out, every single time i get the a response along the lines of "In my 20+ years of recruiting we've never had any problems with the contractor not opting out of the agency regulations, you're the first person to ever do that. Can i ask why you want to opt-in?"

My response is always something like "Thank you for acknowledging my contribution to the innovation to the recruitment industry, i'm very proud to be a pioneer in this field, being first is a great honour. One thing to note, i'm not opting in, i'm refusing to opt out, i dont need to opt-in to the law. I've chosen to do this because theres no reason to and the law specifically protects me from you forcing me to do so. Also, since your client has already decided to hire me, even if i was to opt out, it wouldnt be recognised in court as the opt out paperwork must be signed before i ever meet the client."

For this point on the agency regulations, i do it primarily just to make the recruiters work for their exorbitant markup on my day rate. However i do also question source code and copyright clauses like the author did, almost always, i'm looked at with dumbfoundment that i even bothered to read the contract.

If anyone wants to know the regulations i'm referring to, heres a link: http://www.contractoruk.com/agencies/5158.html

Re: An Email Thread Between a Developer and Gigster

#33
post #24

I'm not trying to defend gigster (broad indemnification clauses are bad news), but if someone framed those questions to me that way, I would also be hesitant to respond to them. It raises the "I'm going to be a handful" alarm. So, I understand why they were hesitant to respond and didn't want to comment on it.

I don't agree in the slightest. If anything, developers who ask questions are the ones you want most. One of the worst traits in a developer is the tendency to say yes to everything.

Re: An Email Thread Between a Developer and Gigster

#34
post #11

That classic "well, nobody else has had a problem, so you must be the problem" response. I remember at one of my first jobs, myself and another programmer were working on a side project (outside of work hours, not using company resources in any way) that were considering monetising. Our contracts stated that the company we worked for owned all of our code produced in and out of working hours. We got to the business e…

Is this common in contracts??

Re: An Email Thread Between a Developer and Gigster

#35
I recently got accepted in to the Gigster network and I haven't received any new "gigs". They seem to have poor process for onboarding a newbie in terms of allocating projects. Most of the projects require people with Karma more than "350+" or "321+" - whatever that odd number means - (the default karma is 300). With more than 500 developers and designers in the network it is becoming more and more difficult for newbies to get any sort of project. Because the number of projects are not flooding in as the new members of developers

The probability keeps getting lower as new members join :|

Re: An Email Thread Between a Developer and Gigster

#37
post #11

That classic "well, nobody else has had a problem, so you must be the problem" response. I remember at one of my first jobs, myself and another programmer were working on a side project (outside of work hours, not using company resources in any way) that were considering monetising. Our contracts stated that the company we worked for owned all of our code produced in and out of working hours. We got to the business e…

Is this common in contracts??

Yes, extremely.

Re: An Email Thread Between a Developer and Gigster

#39
My standard reply to "oh we've never asked for someone's IP even though it's in the contract" is "great, then you won't mind me taking that term out, since you weren't using it anyway".

Remember, if it's in the contract, it's what's happening. Let no amount of promises persuade you.

Re: An Email Thread Between a Developer and Gigster

#40
post #11

That classic "well, nobody else has had a problem, so you must be the problem" response. I remember at one of my first jobs, myself and another programmer were working on a side project (outside of work hours, not using company resources in any way) that were considering monetising. Our contracts stated that the company we worked for owned all of our code produced in and out of working hours. We got to the business e…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle
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