Entitlement or exploitation? It's a fine line. Would you say the same thing if the terms were not monetary but instead based on the barter system and other goods were exchanged?
I already have a military family background. I'm being practical. Why should one benefit at the other's expense without exchanging the means for the knowledge and expertise? They hired me and outlined my job description to the T. I abide by it. The fact that I have the ability to go beyond my job scope should be the merits used for salary negotiations. But as raises have been completely shut down for all non C-level people, what's the point of going beyond the scope? And don't feed me any of this greater good or terrible economy crap. The only way to get through a terrible economy in through self preservation and accumulating the necessities to weather the storm.
Let me get this straight:
1. You weren't tasked with or asked to create this application
2. You went ahead and did it anyway
3. You feel you should be compensated for work done entirely on your own initiative and without any request or direction from management?
That sounds an kind of like the guy who walks up to your car at the red light, washes your windshield and then asks for money. Even if the window was dirty, no one asked the guy to wash your windshield. Now you want someone to pay you for work they didn't ask to be done that you took upon yourself to do.
I'd say you have four choices (I won't address copyright or licensing as that's not what you talk about):
1. Ask for compensation and provide the application to your employer if you feel the offered remuneration is appropriate
2. Ask for compensation and provide the application to your employer regardless of compensation
3. Ask for compensation and withhold the application if you feel the offered remuneration isn't appropriate
4. Don't involve your employer with this application at all and then do whatever you think appropriate insofar as selling it on the open market, open-sourcing it, etc.
Because it was not requested or required, your employer is under no obligation to purchase the application from you, nor to compensate you for your time in developing the application, even if the application provides as much value as you say.
If I was your boss and I felt the application might have merit, I'd have you pilot it and then implement it in production if it passed muster. I'd then say, "thanks very much for this great tool. Now get back to work." I'd probably (if it were within my means) try to get you a (bigger) bonus and/or some extra time off and it would definitely improve your annual review, but I'm not going to pay one of my employees contracting fees just because he took it on himself to implement a tool that benefits him and his team.
I think you're barking up the wrong tree here
I think you're completely right - be righteous on your own time; use the experience in crafting this CRM tool somewhere else, but don't be indignant if they don't want to pay you for it... At the same time, I'd say don't hand it over to them unless you've foisted it upon your mates and have made this a defacto tool for them to use in their daily work. If that's the case, you have granted them rights to use this tool without compensation.
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Entitlement or exploitation? It's a fine line. Would you say the same thing if the terms were not monetary but instead based on the barter system and other goods were exchanged? I already have a military family background. I'm being practical. Why should one benefit at the other's expense without exchanging the means for the knowledge and expertise? They hired me and outlined my job description to the T. I abide by it. The fact that I have the ability to go beyond my job scope should be the merits used for salary negotiations. But as raises have been completely shut down for all non C-level people, what's the point of going beyond the scope? And don't feed me any of this greater good or terrible economy crap. The only way to get through a terrible economy in through self preservation and accumulating the necessities to weather the storm.
Let me get this straight: 1. You weren't tasked with or asked to create this application 2. You went ahead and did it anyway 3. You feel you should be compensated for work done entirely on your own initiative and without any request or direction from management?
That sounds an kind of like the guy who walks up to your car at the red light, washes your windshield and then asks for money. Even if the window was dirty, no one asked the guy to wash your windshield. Now you want someone to pay you for work they didn't ask to be done that you took upon yourself to do.
I'd say you have four choices (I won't address copyright or licensing as that's not what you talk about): 1. Ask for compensation and provide the application to your employer if you feel the offered remuneration is appropriate 2. Ask for compensation and provide the application to your employer regardless of compensation 3. Ask for compensation and withhold the application if you feel the offered remuneration isn't appropriate 4. Don't involve your employer with this application at all and then do whatever you think appropriate insofar as selling it on the open market, open-sourcing it, etc.
Because it was not requested or required, your employer is under no obligation to purchase the application from you, nor to compensate you for your time in developing the application, even if the application provides as much value as you say.
If I was your boss and I felt the application might have merit, I'd have you pilot it and then implement it in production if it passed muster. I'd then say, "thanks very much for this great tool. Now get back to work." I'd probably (if it were within my means) try to get you a (bigger) bonus and/or some extra time off and it would definitely improve your annual review, but I'm not going to pay one of my employees contracting fees just because he took it on himself to implement a tool that benefits him and his team.
I think you're barking up the wrong tree here
I think you're completely right - be righteous on your own time; use the experience in crafting this CRM tool somewhere else, but don't be indignant if they don't want to pay you for it... At the same time, I'd say don't hand it over to them unless you've foisted it upon your mates and have made this a defacto tool for them to use in their daily work. If that's the case, you have granted them rights to use this tool without compensation.