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Work Samples and the Non-Disclosure Agreement?
ahowl asks: "At my previous employer, I signed a traditional NDA, and when I was laid off, I signed another agreement stating I wasn't taking anything with me that belonged to the company. This included all the scripts, stored procedures, and anything else that I had created while employed. However, most of the subsequent jobs that I was looking at wanted work samples. If this continues I could have a ton of work I've done that I can't show anyone, so what can I do?"
Is there no computer related work you do as a hobby? For example work on open source projects etc... If there is then you could use this as evidence. Perhaps whilst job hunting you could work on a small project just to show your capabilities. Also, surely a company would understand this situation and be sympathetic? Especially if they have a similar N.D.A? Another point to consider, surely just detailing the projects you've worked on, what you did and how you did it could be enough evidence of your capabilities without actually showing them the code you made. Plus I'm sure you can display qualities to them such as your ability to work in a team etc... which are just as if not more important than the code you create, so if you appear strong in these areas and explain why you can't show past work then you could still be in the running for the job. Just my tuppence, Regards, Grant
Isee Stars Astro Image Hosting.
C'mon, people, just because you signed an NDA
doesn't mean you can't get a variation agree-
ment for a small, useful bit of code that you
are proud of...
I'd make it a habit of getting such an agree-
ment (ie, variation) as early as possible, eg
even during the signing of the NDA itself.
Why not try adding a write-in clause (do it a
bit professionally, eg, by sticking-on a pre-
printed label, maybe) that says something like:
"... small work sample(s) may be shown,
but not left in the possession of other
organisation(s), exclusively when inter-
viewing for other positions.
Such samples will not include 's
trade secrets, etc."
You lawyer should be able to help you with
the details...
Don't try this at home, boys and girls. Killing people for real is much harder than it is on TV!
The guy I use charges $150/hour. Reviewing a standard NDA takes about ... 1 hour. As a result, I've avoided signing things that would make a paper smeared with pig feces more attractive.
Before you sign anything consult a lawyer
Think about how much money you could potentially lose because you can't show your potential future employer any samples. Is that work 150 bones?
So.
Before you sign anything consult a lawyer
Yeah, right.
And always make sure that you keep a copy of any NDA you sign. I've worked for companies that were reasonable in the beginning, but grew more absurd over time. Sometimes they have the idea that they can revise the agreement over time without further agreement from you. (Make sure that there's no clause allowing them to do that.) One place even had the weird idea that they could forbid people from making a copy of a contract that they wanted people to sign.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.