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Subject:RE: Portfolie... was Re: Am I experienced? From:Tara English-Sweeney <tesweeney -at- novadigm -dot- com> To:'TECHWR-L' <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 17 Oct 2000 11:30:47 -0400
Although I like people to leave samples with me, I never leave them myself.
If I ever have material that is not sensitive, I'd be glad to leave it. But,
my feelings are that the company interviewing me should respect that I won't
show them sensitive material. It means that I will do right by them too. I
keep meaning to write generic stuff on my own - just for use in interviews.
I will bring samples to the interview. And, I make changes to the document
(for example, take out the company name) to make it somewhat generic. I also
have not gone from insurance company A to insurance company B. So, if I
can't genericize something (because you would lose the feel for the
document), I will show it at the interview only if (1) I take it when I
leave, (2) no copies are made, and (3) they are not in the same industry.
Before I took my current position, I passed on an interview where they
insisted on having me send samples before I actually met with them. I
explained to them that most of the work I've done has been proprietary and
they just didn't care. Well, then, I didn't want to work for them! :)
I'm in a bit of a quandry at my current company though. The agreement I
signed when I started was pretty strict. And, I didn't think to ask if it
was ok to genericize documents to include in my portfolio. There was a
discussion on this list that happened shortly after I signed. Oh how I wish
I'd seen it before! So, although I hope to be here for a long, long time, I
am not sure what I will do when I leave. And, we don't have an HR department
who would be able to answer questions like that.
[From Megan Rock]
I'm curious how all of you get copies of things you've worked on in order to
put them in your portfolio. Didn't you sign a "non-disclosure" agreement
when you hired in? Isn't the stuff you work on considered proprietary and
confidential? Do you ask your corporate lawyer and your manager whether you
can make a copy of something in order to add it to your porfolio, or do you
just pocket the copies without asking?
