Open Source and Non-Compete
Open source projects like PostgreSQL depend heavily on volunteers.
While the community occasionally funds specific work or covers expenses, those cases are rare. Most PostgreSQL contributors work in database-related environments — often at companies specialised in databases or connected to the ecosystem in some way.
Now imagine this scenario:
Your employer treats you with massive disrespect, making your work life miserable and negatively affecting your ability to contribute. You want to help the open-source ecosystem. You love contributing. But your passion becomes trapped — caged by mistreatment and by the fear that switching employers could expose you to legal risks due to non-compete clauses. You feel stuck: endure the mistreatment, or leave the industry and lose your connection to the community you care about.
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Wouldn’t this go against the spirit of the PostgreSQL community guidelines?
Not yet afaik— because the CoC guidelines currently protect individuals within community interactions, not within their employment situations.
But what if the community also encouraged healthier professional environments?
What if we (other community members) offered guidance on which companies actively support contributors and treat them fairly?
This would create shared responsibility between the companies and the community — ensuring the PostgreSQL project benefits from healthy, supported contributors.
A company would then be pro-community not only in words, but in actual behaviour.
Wouldn’t it be helpful for newcomers to know where to start — where they don’t have to be afraid?
Wouldn’t it be great if PostgreSQL-focused employers took care in enabling and protecting employees who contribute to the ecosystem?
I know this is a sensitive topic, and I don’t expect many responses.
Another idea — perhaps in addition to all of this — would be to educate new community members about what to look for in employment contracts. For example: making sure their contract doesn’t include an industry-wide non-compete clause.
