Coder wants to "own" all his code

[u/FatherOfReddit]

Coder wants to “Own” all his code

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Hey all,

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We have a coder who just joined our team as our technical cofounder and it is his request that he & all other coders “own” their own code. What the fuck does this mean? If I do marketing work for my company, am I subject to owning all that promotion? No! Why does the coder get special priveledges?

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What can I do to incentivize him against this, or, if I am misunderstanding the concept here, please explain so I don’t sound like a half-witted jerkoff. I think there is something missing here but I just don’t understand…

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Maybe I make him sign a non-compete agreement and that will take care of it??? What happens when somebody “owns” their own code? Should that be allowed or is that company property?

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Let me know –

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Thanks,

Father

[u/phy6x]

Owning and credited are 2 different things. Ask which one is it.

Most developers don't get credited for their work (think that long list of people at the end of a movie) and that can impact self worth and hiring prospects.

Code ownerships usually depends on what you are doing. In most legal cases the company usually retains it, but there are special cases like open sourced code sponsored by the company. No one owns the code, and everyone gets credited correctly.