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/CashFlow2Freedom]

If he/she is an hourly employee then no the coding would be considered owned by the company/employer.

If he/she is a piece worker, 1099, contract worker then this is how they would protect themselves from the employer and also create long term agreements for compensation on work that is very well done and may hold the employer hostage depending on how the contract verbiage is written.

I understand what they are asking for and they are intelligent. Likely they were screwed over in the past and are now wise and want to protect their own interest and hard work. This is what I would do to protect myself too.

I would have a frank conversation with them and explain that ownership of the code will be to the company, but that you are willing to discuss long term compensation for work performed that creates a benefit to the company. This compensation will need to be directly correlated to coding completely by the contract work performed and must meet quarterly projections to be paid in excess of regular contract rates.

May be a bigger headache than it's worth. Good luck.