I worked in a large corp you know about in California.. as a loner with few colleagues, I was deep in some assembly language and other nerdy topics, and not great with culture and certainly still a visible rebel. Meanwhile, my colleague from Big School Nearby was hired as staff engineer. There was serious IP on the table and security was an issue always.

It turns out that my colleague had an appetite for money beyond his paycheck as a starting engineer, and was talking to certain third-parties that sold peripherals and such out of Silicon Valley; not massive money by today's standards, but not nothing either. My colleague it turns out was somehow providing inside information to whomever. I was not interested in all this sort of stealing and whatnot, but I showed my 'rebel' flag as a cultural thing at that young age and was viewed with suspicion by the security people for sure.

So the Senior Engineers of the department figured out that there was a serious leak one day, and my clean-cut colleague and I both had access to it. The engineering management literally stormed my office, but I happened to be out. I was called to the main office later and it was serious. I denied involvement (TRUE) but they could see I was not telling them everything. My clean cut colleague .. no idea, but I think he worked there for more than a decade after that, with raises. I was put on a secret black list and didnt last much longer.

I never told on my colleague, and he has a house in Marin now. I am certainly unhappy telling this story. Reflecting on it - that story is probably part of why I chose this nick on YNews.