proggR Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 I work for a computer repair service within a large company (I'm sure you could guess what one if you tried). I find a lot of people posting ads on classified websites in need of computer repair. I am very tempted to reply and assist these people for a fraction of the cost of my employer or any competition because I have all the tools and software I'd need for most issues I'm seeing. Do you think this would pose any issues? I can't recall if it mentioned it in my contract. I may ask my supervisor today if I can catch him before he leaves. What if I don't mention to customers where I work? That poses a problem of credibility since I haven't done my A+ yet though. $75 for an OS install/data backup is easy money and would be a lot cheaper than the $189 they'd be charged elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 I can't recall if it mentioned it in my contract. It may very well be, why don't you check. I know with my work, I am not aloud to work in a competing industry. Fortunately for me, that means I can still freelance as a web developer, I just can't publish books or software. (I work for a publishing company). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proggR Posted December 22, 2009 Author Share Posted December 22, 2009 Well that's fortunate lol. I work a night shift doing pre-setups on laptops for boxing day (blah). If I get there early enough and my supervisor is in I'm going to ask him. I'm hoping he gives me the ok. I hate seeing all my storage, software, screwdrivers, SATA/IDE/USB adapters and knowledge going to waste! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 bestbuy/geeksquad? anyways...even McJobs make you sign a non-compete, so more than likely something you signed did mention it. However...freelance work is kind of a big gray area. Especially if you're not officially invoicing anybody or reporting the $$ to Uncle Sam. You can ask your boss, but more than likely (s)he will default to the "safe" answer, which is inevitably "No". I personally would ask to see the paperwork yourself, get a copy of it, ask a lawyer if you can, post it on some forums and get some opinions if you can't, see what the general consensus is. But the reality here is you are just one dude making a quick buck vs. a huge company. The odds are overwhelmingly stacked in your favor that nobody is going to notice, especially if you don't go out advertising it to the world that you work for this company. And even if your employer did notice, more than likely they will probably just fire you, as it's probably not worth their time/effort to bother pursuing something farther than that... ...But that mostly hinges on how you are getting this business... are you directly undercutting your employer? As in "Hi, thanks for calling <employer>, this is hopelessX, how may I help you? Oh, you need an OS install? Well we charge $189, but I tell you what, I'll swing by and take care of that for $75, cash under the table" - see that will get you in trouble for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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