[jujodi]

What fear causes you to separate your online presence between work and personal? I used to think others would assume I was on company time working on side projects but the reality is that I don't even hire people who don't work on side projects. Our CEO is subscribed to my newsletter, my colleagues and I send our executive team posts we write publicly to frame conversations. Any good leadership is going to approve of people being out there learning, growing and representing themselves because it is good for business.

[sdevonoes]

> I don't even hire people who don't work on side projects.

And there, folks, lays one of the reasons why the IT industry is so broken.

"Are you a lawyer? Nice! We are looking for lawyers! Show me your side projects... Wait, no side projects? Next!"

Nonsense.

[jujodi]

Why is that nonsense? If I'm looking to hire a lawyer I would want to know what pro bono work they've done in the past. In fact, this is all but required by the American Bar Association. It's for altruism, sure, but it's also an opportunity to understand more about them. Whether they're really passionate, etc.

[poppy-easypost]

Great question, all sorts of things. That I would feel comfortable with at this employer, for the moment, is disclosing historical involvement in 2600 at a very bad time, let's say. This goes both directions; my current employer has been on the receiving end of protest before. I'm already hesitant to have my personal identity associated for that reason, but am doing so in the interest of others finding my resume, hosted on my website.

I don't think it takes long to imagine personal / work boundaries being crossed that are undesirable in the current western world. I think HN has a lot of articles about just that.

My bigger curiosity - is it supposed to work this way?

[ev1]

I do reverse engineering for fun; it was how I got into programming in the first place. Considering that breaking or replaying an authentication handshake is effectively a felony in the US (or breaking any form of DRM or authorisation), I can immediately see why separation is desirable for some types.

[jujodi]

I wasn't really thinking people would read into what I said as advice to openly post about the felonies they're committing on the internet.

[yuppie_scum]

You wouldn’t hire someone who pours 100% of their technical efforts into the job you’re paying them for?

[jujodi]

No definitely not, the most popularized example of this is the 20 percent rule. I like people who like to learn. I want people to "graduate" from my company when they're ready, not quit.

[slovette]

Nope. For lots of reasons.