For people with a fulltime job, does your employer know about your sideproject?
I feel like I'm living a double life - answering customer emails and adding features etc. in the evenings and weekends, but not feeling comfortable talking about it in the day to colleagues.
I'll be pulling the trigger soon to go full time on my project so it won't matter for long, but curious how open everyone is with their employers?
Back when I was a full-time employee, I was cautious, but as open as I could be with my colleagues about my side-projects. Some people were cool; others took it as a sign that I wasn't serious about being a 'company man'. Either of those viewpoints was fine by me.
I found that if I navigated the gaslighting middle-managers correctly, there was no problem.
That being said, there's a reason a necktie resembles a noose...😉
Five weeks until self-employment (or unemployment depending on your viewpoint). I cannot wait!
👍It will be the best/worst decision you've ever made! 😀
I'm fortunate enough to own my own successful creative branding business. I am also developing a side hustle to our business. If any of my employees wanted to start their own business I would (and do) encourage it. One has a fashion design company and another started a ring (jewellery) company.
Nope. I still maintain my performance at work while running several side projects. They started exactly the same way I did now, 10 years ago so I'm pretty confident they'll understand when/if they find out.
Absolutely not.
It's an old school company and it would be badly perceived.
It's sometime uncomfortable as I would like to share with my co workers too.
Ay,
For me my sideprojects (and my company as a "micro entreprise in french") are a valuable arguments when I talk to my boss. With my sideprojects I acquire more and more skills that I can use on my fulltime job. So my boss don't care as I do my job great in his company and I bring more knowledge and skills over the time. :)
Everybody is winner here.
I told my boss that I'd like to make them my last employer and eventually start my own business. She took it as a compliment and as a praise, since that time may be a while to come (I haven't even launched my side project yet). She's even told me to let them know how they can help out (with absolutely zero indication that they'd want to claim ownership of the product).
Edit: I should clarify that the side project consists of tutorials created for those who want to become data engineers, so they'd help me determine if the level of detail was too high, too low, etc.
If I change places I usually tell them upfront,regarding your situation check your contract, because sometimes it is in the contract to tell them if you have any other things going on. (Conflict of interest etc.) So if you do something similar to your daily job then do no tell them, if it is orthogonal, then just do not brag about it.
I make it a requirement that the company is aware that I have side projects / my own company that I do work on too, that it won't affect my work for them, but they do not get to dictate what I can and cannot do.
So my colleagues know about it from the get go.