Re: Switching jobs after 7 years (Off topic)

junk.dontsend@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

After 7+ years with my current employer I am thinking of switching
jobs. My previous interview (with my current employer) was when I was
fresh out of collage.
The problem I am facing is
At what point during the interview process does the discussion on the
achievements at the previous company change from 'projecting the
benifit that you can bring to to your potential employer' to 'reveling
your current employers IP'?

At the point where you're telling folks how to build your current employers products.

If it were me, unless I were interviewing with my current employer's direct competitors, I would feel free to tell as much about my current employer's processes as I would a VIP customer touring the lab -- i.e., give them enough information to understand the product, but don't give them the keys to the city. Keep in mind that individual, isolated bits of code or circuits won't tell much when they're yanked out of the overall product context.

If I _were_ interviewing with my current employer's direct competitors, I'd be wondering how I could manage to ethically work for them at all.

If someone really starts drilling in to detail to a level that you feel uncomfortable with, just say so, i.e. "I'd really like to show you that but I wouldn't want to give away important company IP". Your interviewers should respect that, unless you're being asked the resistor color code, or other piece of general knowledge.

I wouldn't expect this would be a big deal: folks will be interviewing you to see if you'll fit into _their_ establishment -- if they ask questions about what you're doing now it'll be to get a general feel for how much you know and how well you work with others, not to learn enough to build your current employer's products.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

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