I was talking to some business friends of mine, and they were very dumbfounded about the claims that companies make about employee side projects.<p>To what degree am I allowed to focus on my startup at work? I never write code, but I do ask technical questions on freenode about setups and favorites ycombinator articles.<p>Am I being paranoid? I'm just worried, because I run a blog under the same nick (not this one), and any competent googler will show me asking questions at work pertinent to my startup.<p>Probably a stupid question, but I'd really appreciate any links/knowledge drops. I think I'm being paranoid, but I don't know.
<i>To what degree am I allowed to focus on my startup at work?</i><p>You are being paid to help their business grow, not yours. Give it a little perspective. If your startup succeeded, would you want employees planning their own startups while you pay them?
Legally (though IANAL): create no IP, do no customer support, don't do any real "work".<p>Ethically: don't be abusive. You're being paid to do a job, so the standard work ethic applies. Some personal stuff is expected and reasonable.