Why do you feel justified in assuming what your company would think? And how do you justify working at such a place with the kind of corporate moral code that would punish employees for behavior not defined in the employment contract?

There are plenty of scenarios in which an employer believes that they deserve to know how their employee conducts themselves outside of work, including other jobs, and in those scenarios, this should be specified in the contract. In the news business, working for someone who might intersect with your beat, e.g. making phone calls for the local chapter of Democrats if you're covering politics, will often result in a severe reprimand if not firing. If you want to be a schoolteacher, you can be fired for having worked in porn, even if those days are over. [0]

[0] http://www.cbsnews.com/news/stacie-halas-fired-calif-teacher...

> "how do you justify working at such a place with the kind of corporate moral code that would punish employees for behavior not defined in the employment contract"

I've worked for a few organisations where the contract has included clauses on exclusivity and IP assignment.

Each time I've asked for those clauses to be removed before joining them, and each time they've agreed.

Sure there are plenty of scenarios where that might be fine. However, I'm sure every business is not the same and I know some of my managers would be offended.

I'm just a little bit worried. You state that you do part time websites, your co-worker is doing system architecture, so I'm assuming software related job. Double check your contract and related documents, because while most contracts do not forbid working part time, pretty common clause is forbidding to compete or work for you employer's competitors. Currently I have CEO signed document explicitly allowing me to work part time in a completely unrelated company :)