Timeline for Interviewee offered code samples from current employer -- should I accept?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
28 events
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| Oct 25, 2016 at 20:37 | comment | added | I'm not paid to think | @Myles it's certainly not (and it isn't the one I have). But that example from Korea is a bit different. I doubt that Korean book authors and publishers would agree to this practice in general. It's also education, which is not necessarily the same as a workplace. Third, this is not much different from what a library does. | |
| Oct 25, 2016 at 20:25 | comment | added | Myles | @I'mnotpaidtothink You may be surprised at the variation in norms around IP around the world. In Korea the expectation for university classes is often the class chips in for one copy of a textbook then takes it to a book photocopy service that are common just off of campus and makes a copy for everyone who chipped in. The US view is not the only view. | |
| Oct 24, 2016 at 17:45 | vote | accept | Alpha | ||
| Oct 24, 2016 at 16:40 | comment | added | zzzzBov | @enderland, it would depend greatly on the programming language and context. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript on a public website are drastically different the user authentication service that runs on a secure server. | |
| Oct 24, 2016 at 16:20 | comment | added | psr | It's a little funny that they are claiming they could "just" write it again, which implies it's easy, but didn't bother to do so. So even if they were correct it would still be a red flag. | |
| Oct 24, 2016 at 14:28 | comment | added | MoondogsMaDawg | @enderland @coteyr in that case, the interviewee wouldn't have told the OP: "They [the candidate] said it was fine, since they could always write it again" and instead would have said what you just said. Justification aside, "It was fine" could refer to the current employer giving permission. In which case, the vagueness of their answer would not constitute violating IP, just poor communication. Don't fall into the same trap you're accusing the candidate by making assumptions. I agree with your point, but I think OP should verify whether the candidate has permission to share IP before nixing | |
| Oct 24, 2016 at 12:08 | comment | added | enderland | @Gusdor ask your current employer and their legal department, "hey, most of our code is pretty boring and not really that unique. I copied and forwarded a bunch of it to someone who works for a different company, do you care?" | |
| Oct 24, 2016 at 10:26 | comment | added | Gusdor | How much of the boilerplate garbage code your employer owns is revolutionary to such an extent you would even care? The answer is bugger all. | |
| Oct 24, 2016 at 10:21 | comment | added | CodingFeles | @enderland should a person in OP's situation notify candidate's employer about this issue? Is it a good idea or it could damage one's reputation? | |
| Oct 24, 2016 at 7:49 | comment | added | user45590 | If it's a junior dev, hopefully you will tell them the reason they were not considered. It could be a dumb mistake due to ignorance. | |
| Oct 24, 2016 at 1:30 | comment | added | enderland | @coteyr in that case, the interviewee wouldn't have told the OP: "They [the candidate] said it was fine, since they could always write it again" and instead would have said what you just said. | |
| Oct 23, 2016 at 23:29 | comment | added | coteyr | This answer assumes the code in question is not allowed to be shared. There are many cases when a company may allow a departing developer to share some of the code base with interested third parties. If that is the case this answer is exactly the opposite of correct. | |
| Oct 23, 2016 at 12:56 | comment | added | enderland | @XaolingBao the issue is being willing to show me proprietary code with an explanation that effectively says, "I don't care about my company's IP." There is the possibility it's a naive mistake, in which case it could be corrected, but if I'm interviewing for a fulltime position that's not a risk I want to take. | |
| S Oct 23, 2016 at 10:02 | history | suggested | jwodder | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Oct 23, 2016 at 6:32 | review | Suggested edits | |||
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| Oct 23, 2016 at 5:03 | comment | added | XaolingBao | I am curious @enderland if you would change your opinion if the user had offered to show you what his code does, instead of the code itself? You do mention "validity of code" but I'm curious if showing functionality is an issue as well? I was also going to ask if he had permission, but that falls under your "properly explaining" comment, imo. | |
| Oct 23, 2016 at 3:22 | comment | added | anon | Depending on the person's experience, though, you may want to send them a note -- if they're fresh out of college, for example (and the previous employer was someone they interned with or did a co-op with) they might have no idea this is unethical. | |
| Oct 23, 2016 at 2:39 | comment | added | Pedro | Maybe it's because I've had remarkably nice and patient managers, but if he's a junior developer, I think he should be given the benefit of the doubt. Don't accept the code, of course, but don't make the situation a deal-breaker, either. This is an opportunity to teach the candidate why what he suggested is a Bad Idea and see how he reacts. His follow-up reaction can then feed into your decision (not) to hire him. | |
| Oct 23, 2016 at 1:06 | comment | added | Cloud | You know that the candidate is illegally providing third-party IP. Dispose of it unless you intend to provide it as proof to law enforcement. If that company finds out you had a copy of their own IP illegally, it can taint your own code bases, and your dev team gets to go through a 2 week auditing process while very expensive lawyers and P.Eng.'s get to interview your staff (happening a few companies back when a lazy junior dev copy-pasta'ed Apple code into a core S/W stack. ) | |
| Oct 23, 2016 at 0:34 | comment | added | I'm not paid to think | "and in the USA would widely be considered unethical" if the question wouldn't be specifically asking about it, you could drop "in the USA", because this is widely considered unethical. | |
| Oct 22, 2016 at 22:09 | history | edited | enderland | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Oct 22, 2016 at 20:21 | history | edited | enderland | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Oct 22, 2016 at 19:05 | history | edited | enderland | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Oct 22, 2016 at 17:51 | history | edited | enderland | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Oct 22, 2016 at 17:25 | comment | added | enderland | @atk sure. But that would fall into "properly explaining" and this is what the OP said: "They said it was fine, since they could always write it again" | |
| Oct 22, 2016 at 17:06 | comment | added | atk | unless, of course, the other employer has open sourced this code or already has an NDA in place specifically around this project and that specifically allows this code to be shared | |
| Oct 22, 2016 at 15:51 | history | edited | enderland | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Oct 22, 2016 at 15:45 | history | answered | enderland | CC BY-SA 3.0 |