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A comment on Ask HN: What is a better approach to interviewing?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: What is a better approach to interviewing? by throwaway189262 on Sunday September 13, 2020 @02:06AM (#24458770)
A lot of engineers don't work on their side projects because they can't. Every company I've interviewed with requires IP assignment agreement. From my experience, it's standard outside of California where they're banned.

If you asked me to work on something, it would be a toy project. Because I can't contribute to open source and if I build anything substantial it will be taken from me.

You shouldn't punish people in this situation. It's extremely common, maybe even the majority of coders outside California.

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Re:Ask HN: What is a better approach to interviewing? by gkoberger on Sunday September 13, 2020 @02:08AM (#24458772)
I already answered this elsewhere: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24457320

That being said, I've interviewed hundreds of candidates over the past 5 years, and not a single one has cited IP assignment as a hesitation.

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Re:Ask HN: What is a better approach to interviewing? by logicallee on Sunday September 13, 2020 @07:11AM (#24460060)
>Every company I've interviewed with requires IP assignment agreement.

of course they do, you're a knowledge worker for them. they need to own what you create.

a standard phrasing includes "related to the employer's business". see for yourself: https://www.lawinsider.com/clause/intellectual-property-assi...

"during the period of his employment relating to the business of the Company". If your contract doesn't have the words "relating to the business of the Company" then add those words in yourself, signing and dating the change and telling the company of your change.

you're not their slave you know. they don't get stuff you make in your free time. however, not replicating the company's business is a fair requirement, since they might share enough information with you to do just that. I think it's fair for them to get everything related to their business.

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