[WalterBright]

> Doesn’t it bother you that you have to ask some manager if you can do something (a side project) in your free time?

Not at all. A salaried position comes with more open-ended expectations than an hourly position.

Besides, why the resistance to simply asking making it open and honest and the boundaries clear? My agreements on those things tended to be 2 or 3 sentences. I'd sign it, I'd get a veep to sign it, make a copy, and file it away.

It's just good business to do such things.

[dtech]

Do you also ask them for permission when you want to go biking? Visit your mother? Throw a party? Draw a picture? Contribute to an open-source project? Smoke a cigarette? Build a gadget? Buy a house? Have a child?

What an employee does in their own time is 0 business of the employer, none of the above is different from the others in kind.

[sriram_malhar]

Oh come on. That's certainly not what Walter was implying. It is any project that may have a potential current or future overlap with the company's plans or products.

[Viliam1234]

> Have a child?

As long as you agree that the child is a property of the company.

[ficklepickle]

Be sure to read that contract from Rumpelstiltskin Inc. very closely before signing