Topic: proper response

[estanima]

What would you consider the proper response when a new employer asks you for 20 years of source code you've worked on? 

[ChrisCarlson]

Source code is usually proprietary and confidential to a prior employer. I would inquire if a sample program would suffice as a method to show experience and capability.

[estanima]

Source code is usually proprietary and confidential to a prior employer. I would inquire if a sample program would suffice as a method to show experience and capability.

Wish I could use my previous employer, but this was all stuff just I did on my own.

[JohnK]

If this program was not open source and makes you money:
"A licence to use the program can be purchased for... However the source code is not for sale."

If this could make money for the company:
"For $x a separate/additional licence can be arranged and I would like x% of all profit from code in perpetuity."

[dgorsman]

What would you consider the proper response when a new employer asks you for 20 years of source code you've worked on?

I'd provide them references for others who had used that work at other offices.  Unless you're being hired by an employer who only provides software, they won't really care (or possibly even understand) that much about the actual source code.  They're more interested in how well you implemented it, and how well it works with users.

[estanima]

Essentially it's just another programmer in the company who wants it....who has been with the company for a long time, so the company is asking for it so he can check it out.

I don't know, seems like something no one should ask for.

[MickD]

Essentially it's just another programmer in the company who wants it....who has been with the company for a long time, so the company is asking for it so he can check it out.

I don't know, seems like something no one should ask for.

Yep, it sounds like they're just looking for free code to save them time therefore money. Ask them to be specific as to why they want it, try to be amicable with them and explain your concerns and that 20 years worth of code is not something you're prepared to give up freely but (perhaps) you would be willing to use as reference/snippets as needed to help you and others.

If they're not looking for free code then a printed page or two of your code to display your style and ability should be enough.

Remember, you have been hired to 'work' on their code, not provide it

[CADbloke]

I don't know, seems like something no one should ask for.

Exactly right.

If this program was not open source and makes you money:
"A licence to use the program can be purchased for... However the source code is not for sale."

If this could make money for the company:
"For $x a separate/additional licence can be arranged and I would like x% of all profit from code in perpetuity."

And those number should represent the value of handing over that 20 years of your work. Twenty. Years. If they want the source code, add at least two zeroes. I would add at least 3 zeroes.

If it's just some programmer looking for code to steal then that's not a particularly positive reflection on their character.

[SEANT]

Essentially it's just another programmer in the company who wants it....who has been with the company for a long time, so the company is asking for it so he can check it out.

I don't know, seems like something no one should ask for.

Perhaps not. 

Do you now have access to all of their existing code?  That may have some bearing.

[ChrisCarlson]

Essentially it's just another programmer in the company who wants it....who has been with the company for a long time, so the company is asking for it so he can check it out.

I don't know, seems like something no one should ask for.

Remember, everything has a price. If they really push the issue and you own the code you've written, sell them the code based on a sum of the "salary" you could or had made writing the code and multiply by 5.

[estanima]

Thanks all.  Between this and some thought I came to this conclusion.

For them to ask for the code they are saying "your work is awesome and we want it"... but at the same time they are saying "we don't feel you are the person we want to continue to move forward with your own work, we like this other person better".  In my own opinion, a proper statement to me would have been "we are impressed with the work you've done and we want to stand by you to pursue it more".  I realized how incredibly dehumanizing it was for them to marginalize both my effort and me to a point they are asking to simply step aside from my own work and hand it to someone else.  Obviously they choose to not stand by me as I pursue my own efforts, so off to alternative work I think, they can figure it out by themselves, where I say good luck, 20 years was hard, and the amount of code I've written can fill at least a novel, if not two. They have a lot of work ahead of them.