75

I told my boss I had an idea for a program that could improve efficiency across much of the business, and he let me build it on company time. In the long term, he wanted to be able to sell it to other companies. However, the program never got implemented due to personnel mismanagement, and I'd rather be able to post it on my github under a free licence so I can use it as a resume item, and at least someone would have the chance to actually use it. It's all still in my head, and I could write it again if I wanted. If I do, is it illegal to publish it? What if I write it in a different language? Do I need to change the variable names? I did plenty of research and planning on company time to build it, and it's not like I can research it again, it's all still in my head.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] lemmyvore@feddit.nl -4 points 1 year ago

Going to such lengths suggests this is morally the wrong thing to do.

[-] Blackthorn@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago

I'd say it suggests it's "legally" the wrong thing to do.

[-] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

"Make those parts pluggable/replaceable which would be a good design anyways".

Following best practices = Morally Wrong?
Sure, fren, whatever you say.

The only reason OP might not have done it this way in the first place would have been to save the company worrying about licensing, or getting shitty with OP about not using enough orignal/proprietary code to ensure lock-in with future clients ... is THAT somehow morally superior in your book?

[-] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 3 points 1 year ago

I just mean that the amount of subterfuge that's been suggested in this thread suggests these people feel that something's wrong. You don't normally have to go to such lengths to hide your identity on GitHub.

Let's be honest, deciding later that code they wrote for someone should be repurposed behind their back is rather underhanded. And making it open source rather than spinning their own company doesn't make it more palatable.

this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2023
75 points (93.1% liked)

Programming

17314 readers
241 users here now

Welcome to the main community in programming.dev! Feel free to post anything relating to programming here!

Cross posting is strongly encouraged in the instance. If you feel your post or another person's post makes sense in another community cross post into it.

Hope you enjoy the instance!

Rules

Rules

  • Follow the programming.dev instance rules
  • Keep content related to programming in some way
  • If you're posting long videos try to add in some form of tldr for those who don't want to watch videos

Wormhole

Follow the wormhole through a path of communities !webdev@programming.dev



founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS