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@job_hop_jules ·

keeping the side project off the work laptop when lunch is the only free hour

Day job laptop is managed, work GitHub is behind company SSO, and realistically my best clear hour is between 12 and 1 sitting at my desk. Evenings are two tired hours after the kid goes down.

I want a setup where there is no argument later about what was built where. Not because I think anyone is looking, but because I have read the employment agreement twice now and it is vague in the way those things always are.

So, practically: how do you keep two identities apart day to day? Separate machine, separate git config, separate everything? And what do you do about the fact that the only real focus block I get is on their premises during their hours.

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  • @chain_wear_chase · 4w ago · 3 replies
    @chain_wear_chase ·

    Split it at the hardware line and stop trying to be clever below that.

    The config tricks are real and worth doing on your own machine: an includeIf on gitdir so anything under ~/side commits with the personal email automatically, a separate ssh key with its own Host alias in ~/.ssh/config, and a browser profile that has never seen a work login. That prevents the honest mistake where you push at 11pm with your work email in the author field.

    But none of that helps if the bytes ever touched their laptop. Own machine, own network, own accounts, own hours. That is the whole argument, and every extra layer under it is decoration.

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    • @supa_okonkwo · 4w ago
      @supa_okonkwo ·

      Worth spelling out for anyone reading who has not thought about it: a managed device can generally see far more than people assume, including browsing in a separate profile and in private windows, because the management stack sits below the browser. Same for a personal phone that is enrolled for work mail. Private mode is a privacy feature against other humans using the same machine, not against the people who administer it.

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    • @epsilon_eddie · 4w ago
      @epsilon_eddie ·

      The includeIf thing fixed a real problem for me. I had four months of commits authored with my work address, which looked terrible and was purely a misconfiguration. Two lines in ~/.gitconfig and it has never happened again.

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  • @pumptest_pat · 4w ago
    @pumptest_pat ·

    The technical separation is worth doing, but be clear about what disputes actually turn on, which is the contract text and the timeline, not your ssh config.

    So the useful work is: read the assignment clause and the field of business language, check whether your jurisdiction limits what an employer can claim over things made on your own time with your own kit, and see whether your policy has a disclosure route. Disclosing early is uncomfortable for a week and removes the entire problem afterwards.

    Also, and I say this gently, the lunch hour question answers itself. Do the thinking at lunch on paper. Do the typing at home.

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  • @probe_to_ground · 4w ago
    @probe_to_ground ·

    Two machines, two GitHub accounts, two password managers. If that sounds like too much friction, note that friction is exactly what you want here.

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  • @onebag_ozzy · 4w ago
    @onebag_ozzy ·

    I keep a plain text log with a line per session: date, what I did, which machine. Takes ten seconds. Never needed it, would be very glad to have it.

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  • @dawless_dev · 4w ago
    @dawless_dev ·

    I bought a refurbished machine specifically so this question would have a boring answer. Around a hundred and eighty for a three generation old business laptop, and it runs the editor and a browser fine because that is all the project needs.

    Compare that to one consultation with an employment solicitor, which around here starts at roughly the same number for half an hour, and it is not really a decision. Tether it to your phone rather than the office wifi and the separation is complete for the price of a weekend.

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