I’m joining as a developer. Does this contract cover my side projects?

You have a small app, an open-source library or a freelance tool you built before accepting the job. The new contract assigns inventions and software to the employer. You want to know whether you can keep developing what is already yours.

Do not reduce this to “company laptop versus personal laptop.” The wording may also refer to job duties, the employer's business, confidential information or when work was created. Applicable law matters too.

Separate three questions

First, who owns the existing project? Second, who would own changes you make after joining? Third, are you allowed to spend time on that outside activity at all?

A written exception to an ownership clause might answer the first question without answering the other two. Read the IP assignment, inventions disclosure, conflicts, confidentiality and outside-work provisions together. Follow any definition of “company business” or “work product.”

For one jurisdiction-specific example, the UK Intellectual Property Office explains that an employer normally first owns copyright in covered works created by an employee in the course of employment, subject to an agreement otherwise. That does not settle every invention, side project or contract in another country. Avoid assuming that timing or equipment alone decides the issue.

Make a small project inventory

You do not need to send the employer your entire source repository. Prepare enough information to identify the project accurately and discuss the boundary. This fictional inventory shows the level of detail:

Record the name, a short description and an appropriate dated reference. If a contract includes a schedule of prior inventions or excluded projects, make sure it is completed rather than left blank. Identify confidential former-client material without disclosing it unnecessarily.

Read a broad clause against a specific project

Consider this fictional wording:

The employee assigns all software developed during employment that relates to the company's current or anticipated business.

Suppose your budgeting app predates the job, but the employer develops financial software. The clause leaves practical questions: does the assignment cover only new work? What counts as anticipated business? How are updates to the existing app treated?

You cannot answer those questions merely by saying the app was built on weekends. Ask how the employer intends the clause to apply to the identified project, and whether the agreement can record that boundary. An exception that only names the old version may still leave future improvements unclear.

Check permission and reuse separately

If the agreement requires permission for outside paid work, ask whether running the app needs approval even if its IP is excluded. Check who can approve it, what information they need, whether approval can be withdrawn and what happens if your role changes.

For open-source work, distinguish contributing to a personal project from releasing code made at work. Check the employer's contribution policy and the licence of any code you intend to reuse. A public repository does not make its contents free of licence obligations. Do not bring a former employer's or client's confidential code into the new job.

If you hope to use an existing personal library in the employer's product, address that explicitly. Retaining ownership and granting the employer permission to use it are different decisions.

Ask for a boundary you can actually follow

Adapt this fictional email:

I maintain [project], which I started before this role. I intend to continue [specific activity] outside working hours without company resources or confidential information. Could we identify it in the prior-project schedule and clarify how clause 10 treats future updates? Please also confirm whether separate outside-work approval is needed and how any approval will be recorded.

If ownership of a valuable project remains disputed or the proposed exception is ambiguous, that specific issue is worth a local professional review before signing. Bring the project description and the relevant clauses, not just the job title.

For an initial read, Contracts.money accepts a PDF or DOCX and optional context, then emails AI analysis. Describe the project and your planned activity; ask it to locate relevant terms and conflicting provisions. It cannot determine ownership from a short description or review a policy that was not supplied.

Use the general job-contract checklist for pay, hours and leaving terms. When an exception comes back in a revised draft, check the actual revised wording before relying on it.