I want to create a hobby project and release it under MIT. I work as a developer professionally and i have some clauses in my employment contract that gives any IP to my employer. My employer is open to amending these and/or adding exceptions for specific projects. Can anyone point to guidance resources on how to formulate such exceptions properly?

// EDIT: My contract is not totally strict, it refers to applicable laws and the wording is something like ‘knowledge gained through company activities belong to the company’, which is probably intentionally vague. Also: i like my job and employer and they are open to FOSS. My only concern is whether some higherups might disagree at a later point which is why i want to get the wording right. Will not spend money on a lawyer - it’s not that important to me. Thanks for sharing your experiences so far.

CC image ref.: https://thebluediamondgallery.com/legal/employment-contract.html

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[–] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Do not use a company machine for personal projects. Anything that touches a company machine will inevitably belong to the company.

Just get a beat up old Thinkpad for like $20 (or for free, if you’re friends with the company IT folks and they’re discarding old stock) and install something like Linux Mint to get it up and running.

Don’t even use company-owned software licenses. For instance, if you want to make a game, don’t use your company’s Unreal Engine license to do it. Use a personal license (or something free, like Godot) instead.

[–] wiegell@feddit.dk 1 points 6 days ago

I have ordered a used x280 (only 8 gb ram), it was not at all that cheap though… i could probably have scored one way cheaper if i had a little more patience.