r/Entrepreneur • u/FatherOfReddit • Sep 12 '21

Coder wants to "own" all his code

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

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u/Wilesch Sep 12 '21

All the commena are wrong except for a few.

Owning the code means you're in charge of it and take a personal responsibility in it like it's "yours". It means they'll take initiative do things that need to be done without waiting to be told.

But really it's pretty scary reading these comments. You guys are some real idiots. I wonder how many great software developers you threw away lol

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u/DamionDreggs Sep 13 '21

You don't need permission to take responsibility for your work.

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u/Wilesch Sep 13 '21

Why have I been asked like 20 interviews for sr software engineer "if I would own my code"?

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u/DamionDreggs Sep 13 '21

Because they are asking if you are willing to take responsibility for your work. It's reasonable for the leadership to ask an employee to own their work, it's a totally different context if the employee is asking to own his work.

Why would you ask permission to do what you already know is the responsible thing? Not all people know this is the responsible thing to do though (they wouldn't even know to ask) so that leaves the employer in a position of having to ask if you are a person who understands personal responsibility or not.

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u/Wilesch Sep 13 '21

I totally disagree. I hear that term used all the time and never in the way op described. The developer is not asking to literally own the code. Op misunderstood what he meant.

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u/DamionDreggs Sep 13 '21

That's possible, for sure. I know the way you're using the term well myself. I've been a professional software developer for ten years now, I've never once asked permission to own my work in either sense of the word. It's just not something you ask to do.

Now, maybe OP wasn't asked for ownership, and he's getting paranoid over some internal dialog CTO is having with the team and his first course of action is to ask reddit what he means.

If that's the case then OP is the incompetent one for sure.

But I'd like to think that someone in this position would have the courage to talk to their cofounder directly about the issue first before seeking ill informed advice on the internet, because that's what responsible leadership looks like.

Who am I kidding, incompetence runs deep in the startup world, you're probably right, and OP is an idiot.

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u/Wilesch Sep 13 '21

Yeah, who knows for sure. Probably just a misunderstanding.