How I Use Written Agreements to Protect Myself at Work

Protecting the terms of my compensation and duties — when working for others — by using written agreements

Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash.

Ever heard someone say “an agreement is an agreement”? I didn’t see the usefulness of that statement until I started developing apps for people. While I knew that contracts were important, I didn’t take them seriously — at least not until I worked with startups that didn't compensate me as promised.

At around age 21, I taught myself how to develop apps for the Android platform. Because I was eager to have a lot on my resume, I applied for every software development gig and said yes to every project I happened to be called on, both locally and remotely. Basically, for the early part of my career, I worked with anyone who was willing to employ me.

This was what happened when the founders of a startup reached out to me. We had worked together on a different project sometime before, so I said yes without hesitating. The requirements and compensation were straightforward. I would develop an app in the space of a month, receive half of the payment in two weeks after commencement, and the second half in another two weeks. Next, I was emailed the designs and I started working.

Screenshot by the author.

Fast-forward two weeks into the timeline, and I had paused all other projects just to work on this app. I had a day job, so the only time I could code was late at night. But each morning, I still sent over an updated version of the app beta.

Now just when the two weeks got close for the first payment, they told me that the sponsors had delayed their funding. By the time the full app was ready after a month, I still hadn’t received any payment. This time, they told me that the whole project had been put on hold because the organisers wished to make some changes to it. To this day, I haven’t heard from them concerning the app or the payment. I still have the codes, but all those sleepless nights were for nothing.

Although I’ve had other similar experiences in the past, this is what topped it all off…