Ask Slashdot: Handing Over Personal Work Without Compensation?

rsmith84 writes "I'm the Senior Systems administrator for a small trade college. When I was hired on, it was strictly for L3 related tasks such as advanced server administration, Exchange design and implementation, etc. They have no in-house programmers, no help desk software, and no budget to purchase one. I'm a moderate PHP and MySQL programmer on the side and am easily capable of writing something to meet their needs, but do not believe I should be A) asked to or B) required to, as my job description and employment terms are not based upon this skill set. I like a challenge, and since all of my goals outlined since my hire date have been met and exceeded, I have a lot of down time. So I wrote the application. It streamlines several critical processes, allows for a central repository of FAQ, and provides end users with access to multiple systems all in one place. I've kept a detailed time log of my work and feel I should be remunerated for the work before just handing over the code. The entire source was developed on personal equipment off company hours. My question is: what should I do? If they are willing to compensate me, I will gladly hand it over. However, it's been mentioned that, if I do the project, it is all but guaranteed that I will see no compensation. The application would streamline a lot of processes and take a lot of the burden off my team, freeing them up to handle what I deem to be more challenging items on their respective punch lists and a better utilization of their time and respective skills. I'm a firm believer in not getting 'something for nothing,' especially when the skills are above my pay grade."

Have you talked to anyone?

[Igorod]

Just curious if you've even breached the subject with your boss or whoever is running things? It's hard to say what you should do if you've not even asked.

Get it in writing

[techno-vampire]

Before you actually start coding, discuss this with your boss and find out if he/she wants something like this badly enough to pay you for it. If so, negotiate the terms under which you'll be working just like you would if you were an outside consultant. Once you have an agreement, get it in writing and make sure it's signed by somebody with the authority to sign things like that so there's no chance of misunderstandings later, or room for them to wiggle out of paying you properly later on. If they're not interested in paying you, or in putting the agreement in writing, you shouldn't be interested in doing the work.

Think about your next job

[cryfreedomlove]

I'm a hiring manager. If I see a resume that tells me the candidate went above and beyond their original job scope to create innovative solutions to old problems then I would definitely be interested. If the resume implies that they withheld good ideas and innovations because "It's not my problem" then I'd pass.

Re:Career

[mschuyler]

No, actually he's right. It's all about attitude. Fry cooks are hourly, with extra compensation should they need to take an extra breath. Managers are salaried--whatever it takes ot get the job done.

I've been a fry cook (literally), and I've been a manager. The fry cook is easier. The only thing you have to think about is the difference between over easy and over medium and whether you've got the wherewithall to even know the difference. A manager, particularly a front-line manager, has a lot more on his plate than eggs.

Now I question this manager's motives. You don't go developing something on your own time with the expectation to be paid extra. Any company paying attention would have you sign an agreement anyway. If that's what he really wants, cool. Quit and sell it back to the company. But as it stands he's setting himself up for failure.

In my own case I gave it away (a complete accounts payable and payroll system). As a result I got promoted and probably made close to twice what I would have otherwise. Sometimes you roll the dice and hope for the best.

Re:Hey dumb ass

[rsmith84]

You are correct in both aspects. The treatment is poor, the morale company wide is low since the new management team was put in place and I am well under market value for my experience and skills. @Aighearach - A sysadmin is not a programmer. The skill sets are different but are lumped under the general IT fog. I hardly consider writing a script that cleans up log files on my Windows and Linux boxes to be in the same realm as writing an application that handles the hiring process and workflow for HR.

Re:Career

[denobug]

Dude I want to applaud your motivation and novel idea. However I can also see that it is possible the conflict of interest and violating engineering ethics written all over the place, especially if the work you perform for the other company is the same or similar work you are doing for the company. Depending on the term of employment but it is pretty standard to waive all the work to your employer unless they give explicit approval.

Re:Have you talked to anyone?

[BLKMGK]

I wouldn't give it to them, I would instead tell them that you've been thinking about how it could be done and would perhaps like to build it - on company time. Or perhaps get them to hire someone to do it.

Here's the thing - no good deed goes unpunished. If you give them this and it breaks or something unforeseen happens they will blame you. They will be upset. they may think less of you for not having built it perfect. They will almost certainly not understand all of the work that goes into doing it right despite documentation and honestly it's possible that while you did your best it might not perform as expected when implemented - then what? Who will be fixing it and at what cost? that will be when you get to experience exploitation I'm afraid. Frankly, if they were very very careful about outlining job responsibilities then that would set off alarms with me in the first place.

That said - if raises have been shut down then the point of going beyond scope is not being first on the chopping block. I'd polish up the resume though just in case!

Re:Have you talked to anyone?

[travisco_nabisco]

Actually within Canada, at least in BC, there are overtime pay exempt positions. Included in the category that cannot be payed overtime is High Tech professional. "The hours of work provisions of the Act, including those governing meal breaks, split shifts", minimum daily pay and hours free from work each week, as well as the overtime and statutory holiday provisions, do not apply to “high technology professionals." Labour BC [gov.bc.ca]

Re:Have you talked to anyone?

[greg1104]

Corrupted MyISAM Tables [mysql.com] after a crash are expected from MySQL when using that storage engine; that's the only sort of incident I can think of here that could rightly be attributed to that database. slashdot converted to Innodb a long time ago though. The downthread griping sounds like it could just as easily be a caching issue above the database instead, given there's multiple layers of that going on.