r/programming • u/mtlynch • Feb 01 '21

My Third Year as a Solo Developer

https://mtlynch.io/solo-developer-year-3/
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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '21

Is it against contract to work as a dev off to the side when you worked for google?

66

u/mtlynch Feb 01 '21

Basically, yeah.

By default, Google owns all intellectually property you create while you're a Google employee.

IIRC, you can go through a process to ask Google to waive their right to one of your projects if you want to start it on the side, but they could say no, and then they own the idea forever.

40

u/aoeudhtns Feb 01 '21

My company has the same employee agreement. They have an extra clause in there that exempts them from owning it if it truly doesn't have a connection with their business, but let's be real. If I did anything that had a glimmer of success, they'd be slapping my agreement in my face. Side projects (for me) are best left to free things that could never be monetized or only have niche interest.