There’s been a story in the news lately about an individual who worked for Google and was fired for having a blog. I think what a lot of people seem to misunderstand is that it’s not the fact that he had a blog that got him fired, it was the fact that conducted himself inappropriately publicly, in relation to his job. Lots of Google employees, and employees of other companies, have blogs. However, if you don’t adhere to your company’s code of conduct, you can be fired whether the offending material is in a blog or published in a newspaper in the form of a letter to the editor.
Mark Jen was critical of his employer right off the bat, complaining about his compensation compared to his previous employer among other things. It’s best to remain anonymous and speak in general terms, but even then you may not be completely safe. Just stick to the rules that you agreed to when you were hired or find another job.
Updated February 6, 2012 and originally published February 15, 2005. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the RSS feed or receive daily emails. Follow @flexo on Twitter and visit our Facebook page for more updates.
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That’s why it is nice to be self-employed. I don’t think it is very likely that I will fire myself.
JLP
Heh. One would hope not.