Does your employer allow side hustles? Mine didn’t, so I quit
I always listen with envy to stories of Indie Hackers starting a side hustle, then, when it’s working, quitting their day job.
That wasn’t an option for me. Why? Because my employer doesn’t allow side hustles.
How did that make me feel? Trapped.
If I wanted to work on anything outside my day job, it had to be declared to my employer, approved by the board and written into my employment contract. The chances of their allowing a software-related side hustle seemed slight.
So for the last 7 years, I’ve kept to non-software projects: working part-time as a paramedic on ambulance; making wood-carved maps and globes.
I’ve finally had enough of putting my ambitions as an Indie Hacker on hold. If the only way to work on my own software projects is to quit, well, I quit.
Does your employer allow side hustles? If not, how does that make you feel?
Both my employers (in Germany) required written approval for "any activity related to or that could compete with my job, monetized or not". I worked under the radar for a while but honestly got tired of working in stealth mode. Quitting my job to start freelancing was the best decision I took last year. It's ironic because my side hustle did not compete with my company in anyway. But me quitting and starting freelancing definitely does.
Edit: On a second thought I tink it's not really about the competition. I believe that as a developer, companies want your most productive hours. If you spend a lot of time coding before/after work your work on the job might suffer. This is why I believe freelancing is a good next step towards full-time entrepreneurship.
Interesting. You're right, companies' wanting 100% of your time may be part of it. If so, I'm doubly out. It's OK for a company to own my time for 40 hours a week (or maybe even 60 hours or more, which is what I've found myself putting in). It's not OK for a company to own me completely, every hour of every day. My life is mine, not theirs.
Congratulations on the move to freelancing! That's awesome. Working under the radar must have been exhausting.
I've never understood companies that stop employees doing side projects, obviously not projects that directly compete with the business of course.
Where I work they don't care that I do side projects that I try and sell. Any side projects I do I usually try and learn something new at times to increase my knowledge and keep up to date with technology and then what I learn I potentially give back to where I work and I would think that's probably the case for a lot of people so its actually an advantage for companies to allow employees to do side projects in my opinion.
It would definitely be a deal breaker for me if I wasn't able to work on my own projects in my spare time.
I completely agree, Chris.
I understand that companies need to protect their IP, but if it's not a conflict of interest, it's to everyone's benefit for employees to learn and thrive in outside work.
And yes, in the end, a deal breaker for me too.
We are not there yet, but my co founder and I agree that if we ever get to the point of having employees, not only we have nothing against having side projects, but we'd encourage them.
You learn tons of things when you have a side project, not allowing them is just so silly. And it shows a control-freak attitude, which is super toxic.
That's awesome, Dave. The best employees soon tire of control-freak toxicity. When I hear about companies that want the best for their employees, inside or outside their employment, I find that inspiring.
Thanks :-). At the moment it's just a dream, and it's easy to dream big. But at least we are on the good direction🤞
I never signed anything that said I couldn't have side projects. If so, that would be a deal breaker.
You're wise, Brandon. And that's a good way to put it: in the end, it was a deal breaker for me, too.
Good for you! What are you planning to build now?
Thanks, Lukasz! I'm have a couple of weeks of my notice period left to serve, then I'll take some time to decide on my next project. There are a thousand possibilities...
Yes they do - and I made sure of that before I signed.
The deal would be either:
I dont even think this is legal in some states (California for example).
Good for you for walking.
Thanks Edward. I'm glad I'm not the only one who's thinking this way!
Is that even legal? Where are you from?
As a dev, I've only been working as a contractor, never as an employee. So luckily, never had to think about it really.
Good question @catico. I'm from Canada. It's a grey area. Anything you work on as part of your employment belongs to them, as it should. Any ideas you have that relate to what your work on as part of your employment... well, that's where it gets grey. How closely does it have to relate to belong to your employer? Only the courts can decide.
I think what it comes down to is how aggressive your employer is when it come to these things. Mine was a little too aggressive for my liking, hinting that it was actually illegal under Canadian employment law for me to have two part-time jobs, even though my other job, as a paramedic, is completely unrelated to software! Clearly, this can't be true; but the fact that my employer was saying that it was gave me a good idea of how aggressively they might pursue any perceived conflict of interest.
Ultimately, the only way to be sure was to no longer be an employee. Working as a contractor, as you do, is a good way around this: it's expected that contractors will work on other things for other clients, so it's much less of an issue.
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That's great, Simon. Win-win. Good to hear that your employer was open to it: wouldn't it be wonderful if that were the default, rather than something you have to negotiate. I agree, that kind of freedom makes for happier, better developers.