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tugofpeace

tugofpeace

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Cad said:
The 18 months is from the earliest date your patent claims priority from, which can end up being earlier than 18 months. It could be published immediately if its a continuation or derivation patent.

This gets off in the weeds VERY quickly, but did you sign an NDA? Patent stuff is generally public so there's no recourse against you for disclosing it unless you're violating an NDA, something patented can't also be a trade secret, so you can't get additional liability that way.

If you want real legal advice you should probably hire an employment lawyer to navigate the exact contours of what you could disclose. To be safe I just wouldn't say anything about a patent, I'd just give generally what your work was, unless even the subject is covered by an NDA.
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I have various confidentiality agreements with my employer but I don't recall signing specifically an NDA. I do recall our legal department saying not to disclose details of the patent and that if we do, it can only be under NDA.

One thing it says: "You agree not to disclose, record, or make use of confidential information so long as such information remains nonpublic".

So I guess by saying I invented an alternative to gasoline powered vehicles, I have provided confidential information on my resume, but not such that it violates any patent since I provided no details about it. If anything this is an issue with trade secret confidentiality, but I'm not so sure.

Out of all the companies I applied to, only one is even capable of building any components so I doubt anything happens. The other companies just do design and consulting work.

I will probably consult with an employment lawyer.. unless you think patent lawyer is more appropriate.
 
tugofpeace

tugofpeace

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Cad said:
The 18 months is from the earliest date your patent claims priority from, which can end up being earlier than 18 months. It could be published immediately if its a continuation or derivation patent.

This gets off in the weeds VERY quickly, but did you sign an NDA? Patent stuff is generally public so there's no recourse against you for disclosing it unless you're violating an NDA, something patented can't also be a trade secret, so you can't get additional liability that way.

If you want real legal advice you should probably hire an employment lawyer to navigate the exact contours of what you could disclose. To be safe I just wouldn't say anything about a patent, I'd just give generally what your work was, unless even the subject is covered by an NDA.
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One more thing; what I've mentioned can't be a trade secret right? According to this site: What kind of information can qualify as a trade secret?

"the information must derive “independent economic value” from “not being generally known” or “readily ascertainable.” If information is worthless to a business’s competitors, it is not a trade secret, even if it has value for the business that identified it. "

So if I'm saying on my resume I invented a water powered car, that isn't a trade secret because that information is worthless to a competitor. What are they going to do with that information? There's no details of how the car works, what components it uses, etc, so it's worthless information.

That leads me to believe what I wrote is fair game and not an issue.
 
Cad

Cad

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It can't be a trade secret if its patented. Patents are public, trade secrets are by definition non-public.

That doesn't mean you're not running afoul of your various NDA's (what do you think the difference between an NDA and a confidentiality agreement is?) so I'd definitely contact an employment lawyer to have them review your NDA's and probably one that specializes in IP employment since your situation is pretty unique.
 
Kobayashi

Kobayashi

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tugofpeace said:
Question for you all..

Basically, let's say I found a way to make cars run on water instead of fuel. What my resume says is this:

"Invented an alternative to gasoline powered cars in the automotive industry which substantially reduced costs (patent pending)."

Is that considered a breach of confidentiality to my employer? I listed no details of the design, no patent number, no name for the patent, etc. Wondering if any company I submit my resume to would reach out to my employer trying to figure out what it is, while giving them my name.
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I'd leave it off. I've never seen any patent whatsoever on someone's resume that would move the needle and now you're talking some vague description with no details that you probably legally couldn't actually describe if I asked. I'd also consider it a red flag if you had too many patents - you're probably just scamming the company's invention record system.

Now, if you already did this, I'd say it was a horrible idea - you're maybe in the clear legally, but it's an unnecessary risk to violating any NDA you have. Doubt a competitor would reach out, but I have shared resumes internally that overshared - mostly a "hey look guys, company x is working on the same thing we are."
 
TJT

TJT

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Interesting site built by autists. This site covers jobs that have used or are using the H1B scam strategy of posting jobs in low circulation newspapers nobody reads. Then use this to strengthen their case that "nobody applies" so they need pajeets.

www.jobs.now

JOBS.NOW

JOBS.NOW job board. Connecting the best jobs with top talent.
www.jobs.now www.jobs.now

TomServo TomServo Going to finish my 3rd cert for this year then do the CISSP next year.
 
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TomServo

TomServo

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TJT said:
Interesting site built by autists. This site covers jobs that have used or are using the H1B scam strategy of posting jobs in low circulation newspapers nobody reads. Then use this to strengthen their case that "nobody applies" so they need pajeets.

www.jobs.now

JOBS.NOW

JOBS.NOW job board. Connecting the best jobs with top talent.
www.jobs.now www.jobs.now

TomServo TomServo Going to finish my 3rd cert for this year then do the CISSP next year.
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I would say I would sponsor you but that would require piercing the veil of foh anonymity!
 
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Haus

Haus

I am Big Balls!
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TJT said:
Interesting site built by autists. This site covers jobs that have used or are using the H1B scam strategy of posting jobs in low circulation newspapers nobody reads. Then use this to strengthen their case that "nobody applies" so they need pajeets.

www.jobs.now

JOBS.NOW

JOBS.NOW job board. Connecting the best jobs with top talent.
www.jobs.now www.jobs.now

TomServo TomServo Going to finish my 3rd cert for this year then do the CISSP next year.
Click to expand...
Now we need an AI built to carpet apply with our resume's for these jobs
 
Noodleface

Noodleface

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Moving onto further interviews with oracle. It's gonna be the same bullshit as here, I can already tell, but the company seems way healthier right now.

Slightly longer commute for a little more money. More of a side grade.
 
Aazrael

Aazrael

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Job hunt canceled.

Three blue-collar boys from the town stepped up and is buying the factory. They got two successful business and deep pockets. Thanks god we get normal people to own the factory and can stop having inclusivity seminars and shit from the old company.
 
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tugofpeace

tugofpeace

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Kobayashi said:
I'd leave it off. I've never seen any patent whatsoever on someone's resume that would move the needle and now you're talking some vague description with no details that you probably legally couldn't actually describe if I asked. I'd also consider it a red flag if you had too many patents - you're probably just scamming the company's invention record system.

Now, if you already did this, I'd say it was a horrible idea - you're maybe in the clear legally, but it's an unnecessary risk to violating any NDA you have. Doubt a competitor would reach out, but I have shared resumes internally that overshared - mostly a "hey look guys, company x is working on the same thing we are."
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I took it off now.. however:

The logistics of someone at the company I interview with, reaching out to my own company doesn't even make any sense.

Interviewer: Hi company X, we heard you were developing this new product and wanted to learn some more about it!

Company X: That's not public info.. who'd you hear it from?

Interviewer: Umm, we heard it from tugofpeace (interviewer cannot say this as it is implied that I still work there)..

So really it seems like there is little to no risk. If my resume said I found a way to get rid of tires in cars, some automotive manufacturer isn't just going to start an R&D project to replicate it without any more info than that.

So I think I should be fine..

Right?
 
Kobayashi

Kobayashi

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tugofpeace said:
I took it off now.. however:

The logistics of someone at the company I interview with, reaching out to my own company doesn't even make any sense.

Interviewer: Hi company X, we heard you were developing this new product and wanted to learn some more about it!

Company X: That's not public info.. who'd you hear it from?

Interviewer: Umm, we heard it from tugofpeace (interviewer cannot say this as it is implied that I still work there)..

So really it seems like there is little to no risk. If my resume said I found a way to get rid of tires in cars, some automotive manufacturer isn't just going to start an R&D project to replicate it without any more info than that.

So I think I should be fine..

Right?
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All these industries are pretty tight knit. I know people in pretty much every competitor. The scenario where the company found out would probably be more like:

Company X Guy: Hey Y, I just had tugofpeace interview with me. Is he any good? I guess he's working on some tireless car thing for you.

Now, even in that exact scenario, which probably isn't going to happen (I doubt the tireless car thing would be brought up, it would probably stop at the first question), is it going to blow back on you? Probably not, unless the person at your company that finds out is extremely vindictive.

My main point was just that the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. It's not going to move the needle whatsoever in your favor, so, there's only downside risk involved. Even if that risk is extremely small, what's the point? I wouldn't lose sleep over it if you did it, but I think keeping it off is definitely the smart thing to do.
 
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TJT

TJT

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I did not get that job unfortunately. Would have been a nice change. I know I did really well in the interviews and crushed the technical side. They even told me this. I assume I either asked for too much money or I am simply not a "marketing person" as this role was kind of a developer on a marketing team thing. But they wanted more of the marketing side.

Who knows.
 
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tugofpeace

tugofpeace

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Kobayashi said:
All these industries are pretty tight knit. I know people in pretty much every competitor. The scenario where the company found out would probably be more like:

Company X Guy: Hey Y, I just had tugofpeace interview with me. Is he any good? I guess he's working on some tireless car thing for you.

Now, even in that exact scenario, which probably isn't going to happen (I doubt the tireless car thing would be brought up, it would probably stop at the first question), is it going to blow back on you? Probably not, unless the person at your company that finds out is extremely vindictive.

My main point was just that the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. It's not going to move the needle whatsoever in your favor, so, there's only downside risk involved. Even if that risk is extremely small, what's the point? I wouldn't lose sleep over it if you did it, but I think keeping it off is definitely the smart thing to do.
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Yea, I wasn't looking to justify it really, at this point just damage mitigation. The team I worked for is pretty lax about things but the lawyer who is in charge of IP is a real dickhead. I remember him saying ZERO disclosure otherwise the patent is worthless but my team was advertising the whole thing at trade shows before we even filed for IP.
So if anyone does reach out to a contact at my company it will be a clueless team member who isn't thinking about IP secrecy violation.

I'm guessing if a few months pass though, I'm probably in the clear. Nobody's going to read something like that on a resume and follow up months later.
 
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Kirun

Kirun

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TJT said:
I did not get that job unfortunately. Would have been a nice change. I know I did really well in the interviews and crushed the technical side. They even told me this. I assume I either asked for too much money or I am simply not a "marketing person" as this role was kind of a developer on a marketing team thing. But they wanted more of the marketing side.

Who knows.
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Did you ask them for feedback? Or do you not care enough?
 
TJT

TJT

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Kirun said:
Did you ask them for feedback? Or do you not care enough?
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I've been on both sides of the table in tech hiring long enough now that this isn't really worthwhile.

You can be accepted or denied for arbitrary reasons and I would argue that the arbitrary ones matter more than the qualifications. If you meet the qualifications you are at the whims of arbitrary decisions. Just the way it is.

In this case I know I crushed the technical side simply because this engineering space has been my wheelhouse for over a decade. I was given a take home assignment of sorts which I finished at home last Sunday in about 45 minutes for their 3 use cases. The interviews proceeded with me walking through my solutions and detailing how I would scale them up.

However, my interviewers were not engineers. They were Marketing Operations type people. One was visibly stunned at my background and ability to engineer solutions across a breadth of platforms they use. You could see it on her face.

So who knows. Really. Most likely I was just clearly not a marketing type person. They would rather have someone who was one of their usual types with some technical experience rather than myself. Who is much heavier on the technical side rather than the business side.
 
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Sanrith Descartes

Sanrith Descartes

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TJT said:
I did not get that job unfortunately. Would have been a nice change. I know I did really well in the interviews and crushed the technical side. They even told me this. I assume I either asked for too much money or I am simply not a "marketing person" as this role was kind of a developer on a marketing team thing. But they wanted more of the marketing side.

Who knows.
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My philosophy on this. If they went to 4 interviews, they had someone they wanted but was probably less qualified than other applicants (you) so they keep doing interviews to find reasons to weed out the more qualified applicants. if nepotism isn't involved, then 99% chance the person they hired took less money than what you wanted.
 
TJT

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Sanrith Descartes said:
My philosophy on this. If they went to 4 interviews, they had someone they wanted but was probably less qualified than other applicants (you) so they keep doing interviews to find reasons to weed out the more qualified applicants. if nepotism isn't involved, then 99% chance the person they hired took less money than what you wanted.
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I definitely demanded the higher end of their band. I would never take less money to do what I am already doing + their stuff on top of it. If someone took their lower end they would have to be less technically skilled simply because the lower end of the band they offered is less than you can get for this kind of engineering skill (data infrastructure) for regular dev jobs.
 
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Khane

Khane

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When a position has such a wide pay scale it almost definitely means they took a candidate who asked for the lower end of the band.

If I'm remembering right you mentioned the scale and it was like 65k between top and bottom.
 
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Noodleface

Noodleface

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I have a patent and I don't put it on my resume. It takes up space and honestly if someone asks in an interview I'll just say yeah I have a patent for X.
 
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