in reply to Re: Code Samples and Previous Employers
in thread Code Samples and Previous Employers

I certainly don't consider it a character flaw if a programmer wants to show me some random chunk of code from a previous employer.

It's not a matter of "character flaws": it's just that it's not legal to copy code in violation of copyright!

Suppose you're the guy in the interview chair. If I tell you how I violated your previous employer's legal rights, why should you think I won't violate yours someday? If I don't have the discression to keep the illegal things I've done quiet, why should you believe that I'm discerning enough to trust with confidential company information? If, during the interview, when I'm putting my best foot forward, I still end up suggesting that I can't be trusted, why on earth should you trust me?

I agree that corporate attitudes are annoying, and I have a firm desire for copyright reform: that's why I write my Member of Parliment, and lobby for change. However, I don't selectively break the aspects of laws that I dislike: and I certainly don't expect a potential employer to be sympathetic if I do.
--
AC

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Re^3: Code Samples and Previous Employers
by perrin (Chancellor) on Mar 23, 2005 at 09:21 UTC
    If you don't selectively break copyright laws now and then, you must be a real stickler for following rules. Most people feel fine about photocopying a page they need from a book, or taping a song from a friend's CD, despite the technical illegality of these acts. Showing an isolated snippet of code from a previous employer is of about the same magnitude as these standard violations.

    If I found out that someone who worked for me in the past was using bits of code he wrote for me when applying for jobs, it wouldn't bother me in the slightest. Giving a complete copy of a company project to a competitor who might actually be interested in it would be a different issue, but that's not what we're talking about here.

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      Are you sure that everything you think is technically illegal actually is illegal? The examples that you give that most people run afoul of might well, in the right context, be considered fair use.

      However I'd be far more dubious that the isolated snippet of code from someone's proprietary code base would be considered fair use. (You clearly feel it to be fair use, but I'm suspecting that a court would consider the circumstances around the use to be very different.)

      Of course, as with all things copyright, you only get in serious trouble if the copyright holder comes after you. Which in this situation is rather unlikely to happen.

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      If you don't selectively break copyright laws now and then, you must be a real stickler for following rules.

      It's called "being a law-abiding citizen". Look into it.

      Most people feel fine about photocopying a page they need from a book

      Depending on why they "need" it, and whether they cite appropriately, this may or may not be legal under "fair use" doctrines. How a lawbreaker may "feel" about breaking the law, however, is not an excuse for breaking the law.

      If I found out that someone who worked for me in the past was using bits of code he wrote for me when applying for jobs, it wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

      What if he stole from his company, but "they deserved it"? What if he killed someone, but you felt that guy "really needed killing?" What if he cheated someone who you felt deserved to be taken down a notch? Would you hire him then? If not, then you're not consistant in your support for vigilante justice.

      If you would, well, it's no wonder that there are so many criminals running around. After all, well, they all "had their reasons"... -- AC

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        It's not a black and white world. Trying to make it into one will only get you frustrated.
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