Ask HN: Recruiters want people who do side projects, yet contracts forbid them?
6 by uVacCXNiiJCTnYB | 2 comments on Hacker News.
I was reading this [Joel on software essay](https://ift.tt/2VFhWGB) about employment contracts and side prrojects after it was mentioned in another post here. It's been frustrating me for a long time that most companies when hiring are looking for people who do lots of side projects and open source work, yet when you are actually employed, you will usually have a contract forbidding you from having side activities, or potentially trying to grab copyright forr what you do on the side. Most companies also don't let their employees open source their code written at work too. I get that there is a sort of common understanding between employers and employees that lets people have small side projects, but I've never liked the fact that on paper companies can easily claim ownership of them if they become worth it. In a lot of jobs, people end up in a situation where they are actively discouraged from doing anything on the side because it's always hard to know if they're even allowed. Learning new skills, having side projects and doing open source is valued in hiring, but strongly discouraged and sometimes impossible when having a job. Are there any solutions to this problem? Curious what people's thoughts are.
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