No, you're not bad for doing it, but you are making a bad decision.

The company hired you to produce something for THEM, not paying you to do it for yourself. They are PAYING you to do it, and to give them what they ask for. If (and when) the time comes for them to upgrade/modify/etc., the programs in question, and they can't, they will be understandably upset.

They won't say "Gee, he's a great guy with a house and wife...let's pay him to come back and fix this", but rather it's more likely they'll say "This guy is intentionally hurting our business, and didn't deliver what we asked for. He's either going to fix it for free, or we'll get lawyers after him for breach of contract". Even if they don't, the kind of bad feelings this causes reach far and wide...people talk to each other. Think about it...if YOU hired someone to write something for you, and they gave you that, would YOU consider hiring them again?

Hi TB0ne,

I can see and understand the way you think but in my opinion it also depends on the contract between the company and the employee, the laws applicable depending on country, and the understanding between both. Good agreements between both parties make that actions and/or protections like these are not necessary.

I've worked for various companies in Europe and believe me, over here a lot of people do what I call 'job protection' by not sharing knowledge. To be clear, I'm not one of those since I've never had the need for it, but I kind of understand the OP position.

Kind regards,

Eric

Quite true. Everything depends on the conditions of employment. But, unless specifically stated, work done FOR the company, BELONGS to the company. If you're a contractor, though, then it's yours...the company is paying you for the RESULT, in which case you own the source, until they decide they want to buy it. But as you said, it all depends on the terms.

And there are many people over here in the US that do that "job security" thing too, and it always backfires. The first time the company catches wind of it, someone else is brought in to clean it up, and the "job security" guy gets escorted out, after things are working. Never seen it work yet, except in the short term. And even after that, the reputation that person gets follows them for a LONG time.

Correct! Hence mentioning the contract and the laws that would apply. For example in Belgium (I'm Belgian) they have a lot of ancient laws from Napoleon's time that still apply in court. There's a saying between layers in Belgium that says: anything goes once you can find the hole in the legislation. And believe me, I've heard some weird stuff over the years.

Kind regards,

Eric