Ask HN: One place of work, one side project, one tech stack?
As a developer with less than two years of industry experience, I'm considering to open source my side project and add a new line on my CV.
Having only worked in one company, a fellow colleague could argue there's a resemblance in the code design and tech stack used in my side project. I started my side project before I started this work, but after getting used to some patterns and technologies doing 9-to-5, they started getting used on side projects too. The resemblance ends there and the products are not related. Consequently, I quickly got experienced in the technologies used in my team's scope.
Is this kind of similarity, using the same "toolbox" you use at work for side projects, an issue when deciding to open source a project?
An open Ask HN community consultation from 2022 where @StreamRelated convened hundreds of developers and bootstrappers to share real experiences, hard numbers, and tactics.
Hundreds of active indie hackers contributed case studies, pricing heuristics, and pitfalls to avoid when moonlighting on side projects.
Personally I think it's a huge mistake to say "I want to do this side project AND I want to learn a new language."
A few years ago I used to gawk at people who were rewriting boring old programs like "grep" and "cat" from
https://www.amazon.com/Software-Tools-Brian-W-Kernighan/dp/020103669X ↗
in Rust but it's really appropriate because if you tried to write something interesting and innovative with difficult requirements while learning how to fight with the borrow checker.
For the past decade I've been using mainly Python and Java. Usually I am using one for paid work and the other for side projects. If you want to change the world in a big or a small way stick to languages that are commercially important.
The one trouble is that you don't want your employer to think that their IP walked out in your side project.
How big is the company? If they are massive and you aren't making money they probably won't see you as a threat, as others have said be careful they won't perceive any loss of secret sauce to competitors.
If they are small they wont have the money to make a case against you.
If you are brushing up your CV are you looking for a new job?
I don't think it's in your best interest to talk about that project with colleagues. Likely no one will even notice
This should be fine.
Assuming none of the tech stack is proprietary, patented, etc. you should be fine to continue using it as you see fit. And as you mentioned you're not creating a conflict of interest so that shouldn't be an issue either.
It depends on your workplace. It should be no issue almost every time but some companies are not very nice. You could ask your company but you it should be written on some papers you signed of your company is not nice.
What's your contract say? Do you have an intellectual property assignment clause?