This week we had to get into contact with our company project sponsors if we had been selected for groups that had them. My project in particular required students to sign NDAs, or Non-Disclosure Agreements. When I had been deciding on what project to do for my capstone, I was conflicted in choosing projects that made me sign NDAs because, like many students, I want to be able to talk about my projects to prospective employers to show that I actually learned something from my degree, and to also experience what it’s like to work on an engineering team/simulate what work will be like as a SWE in the future.
I ultimately decided to go through with picking the project with the NDA because 1. Whatever I say to interviewers when talking about projects will not be eloquently detailed enough to violate the NDA anyway (think sweeping, general statements), 2. Company sponsored projects are looked at more positively than straight-up school projects– the hierarchy of desirable resume experience is:
paid work experience>paid internship experience>unpaid company sponsored projects>personal projects>school projects/unpaid internships>nothing
And 3. I have an excuse to not talk about a project i.e. “Sorry, the NDA I signed precludes me from speaking any further about the work I did on it,” for whatever reason.
I also want to point out that NDAs are extremely common in the working world, and sometimes interviewers will test you on how easy it is for you to disclose something you aren’t suppose to rather than just being curious about the work you did for x company. Not only do you want to avoid potential lawsuits from the company you signed the NDA with, the company you interview for will most likely have secrets only privy to employees, so they want someone that can code, but also “AIN’T NO SNITCH”!
