Validation via Employer?
Risky move, I know, so I'm hoping to hear from you all about this. I've been working as a data engineer for a few years so I've encountered quite a few pain points and heard of many more at this point. These issues have been brought up by my colleagues, leadership and various stakeholders throughout the company I'm employed for, along with those working for other employers or as startup founders themselves.
Well, I did a fun project this morning by creating a Slackbot that made me realize that if I continued working on it, the bot itself could address at least a few of the issues mentioned above. Building it out for my work would give me a great opportunity to get direct feedback from stakeholders, iterate on it, and so on. However, I'm worried that I'll forever lose code ownership of it (and I'm based in the US so I doubt I'll have much legal protection).
My goal is to generate enough income on the side to leave my job, so I'm guessing my employer won't be in favor of this.
Anyone go through something similar?
Edit: this post highlights a very similar situation so it seems like it could actually work out if there's a written agreement and a clause that gives my employer "non-exclusive usage rights" so long as I maintain code ownership. This is actually really tempting to consider now.
