Ask HN: Does anyone take the risk to work on private projects from workplace?
Hi,
I have many private project ideas and i'm working on some but it's just impossible for me to have a full time job + personal projects + wife & kid.
I wonder what are people doing about it? I would like to work on it from workplace but maybe they have keyloggers and stuff like this? I don't know... Should I take the risk? does anyone take this risk? I mean I wouldn't want to sit in work and work on my private projects but if I finish my day job at 19:00 then I would like to spend another hour on my private projects, what do you think?
18 comments
[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 37.3 ms ] threadBreeding sucks!
Personally I think working on the job is a bad idea. usually it will give your employer the rights to your private project.
Other than that, I would advise sshing somewhere remote and keeping all of your private project stuff there (i.e. work on it remote - don't keep local copies).
No.
> does anyone take this risk?
Quite probably yes, but that doesn't make it right, or smart.
Is there any way you can work 1 day per week part-time and devote that to your private stuff or do it after hours ?
If you get fired from your day job you'll have all the time in the world but that probably wasn't what you had in mind.
Also, technically your employer would own what you made, so it really isn't a good idea.
If it isn't possible, it isn't possible, but I'm pretty sure that that is just a matter of degree, I'm sure there is at least a 1/2 hour per day or maybe a Sunday morning early when you can work on your own stuff.
Or maybe at night?
But you'll have to learn how to do with less sleep, and that's not for everyone.
If you work for a big corporate it is worth checking your contract too. Often an employer makes claims over your private projects out of work if they are in the same field as your day job.
But...
Not everyone works as a software developer and there are many jobs where coding while you work isn't a detriment to doing a good job. Any job where workers bring in books & magazines to pass the time is a candidate here. I knew someone who was a plant engineer at a water treatment plant. His job consisted basically of being onsite in case there was an emergency. And he managed to bang out a nifty niche application while working there, along with upgrades! (not surprisingly, the app was based on automated monitoring of process systems...) His boss simply didn't care, since he had done that job himself and knew that it really didn't require much attention.
So: generally not a good idea, but in some specific instances it can work out OK.
Bad assumption, I should have asked. Thanks for pointing it out.
Late nights were made for private jobs!
1) Company hardware. Don't use theirs since it's unethical without permission, and even with permission, your employment contract might give them rights to your work.
2) Time. Just because you're in the office doesn't mean you are on their time, but if you are, then that's unethical too.
3) Space. If you've satisfied the first two conditions, it seems like little harm is done and little risk assumed by working on your own laptop on your own time while in the office.
Lastly, I'd worry more about network monitoring than keystroke loggers. If you attach your laptop to their network, you're still using their company resources to do your work.
While you are "working from home" you can work on your side projects. Even if you don't hire a virtual assistant, you'll save plenty of time without the distractions of work (water cooler talk, commute time, etc), that you should have an extra 10-20 hours a week.