What you do on your own time is nobody's business ----- right?
Wrong
- if you work for a company that has significant Intellectual Property - especially non-patented trade secrets - you'd better not be doing anything that compromises that information or competes with your employer.
- if your company has a client list - you had better not be using it as your personal Rolodex for your after hours sales job - period.
- many software companies say that any code you write, ideas you have or projects you worked on for love - belong to them - lock, stock and barrel - period; sometimes for years after you leave their employment.
- basically - if you have a full-time or even a a part-time job already - you are not allowed to "moonlight". As long as nothing comes of your after hours activities - nobody will say anything - but if you have the bad luck of being successful and the boss finds out about it - you'll soon find out that what's yours is his - because the fine print says so. If there's no fine print - then because "that's they way it is, kiddo" and "everybody knows that"; even if you didn't.