For sure, and I’m often the one who makes the list, and one with root. But the big thing is to do it quickly, like within the hour, and diligently. Don’t say, oh, I’ll give him a chance to access his email and download stuff, or whatever. No! Like, cut me off completely right now.

Then, if something breaks down the road, there’s no temptation for them to wonder if I had anything to do with that weird failure.

(And obviously, don’t freaking hack your ex employers! But also don’t even leave the impression that you could.)

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terminalshort 14 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I agree with the overall point. (And WTH would you ever have things you need to download in your work email?) But there's not an employer I have ever left that I couldn't have done extensive damage to without any permissions at all. Not that I would ever add a felony charge to even the most bitter firing, but I could.

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nerdsniper 13 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> And WTH would you ever have things you need to download in your work email?

Because you got a university email as a student 20-30 years ago back when .edu emails were "for life". Then you started working at the university as a staff-person under the same email. Then 20-30 years later you're leaving, and much of your digital identity is inextricably linked to that old "personal" email.

	▲	terminalshort 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		There was a time when I could be sympathetic to that, but it's long past.

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kstrauser 14 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I'm sure that's probably true for all of us, to some extent. Things holding me back:

1. It's wrong. That's not how my parents raised me.

2. I value and protect my reputation.

3. I want to be able to have another job in the field without being permanently deny-listed.

4. Prison sounds awful.

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vidarh 14 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yeah, I usually stress to employers and clients that I want to be cut off quickly, and usually remind them of what they need to lock me out of when I leave.

Even then, I've had clients for whom things have broken come to me in despair hoping I'd kept access. The day one of them for whatever reason decides to suspect that I was the one to break things, I will be very happy to be able to point to consistently having done what I can to ensure I get locked out.

	▲	kstrauser 14 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I've had that, too! Fairly recently, an ex client who sold their business to someone with a full-time IT staff asked me if I had the password to unlock their NAS. No, I didn't. I turned all those over to the IT staff, strongly recommended that they change them, and deleted my local copies. Sorry, but no, I can't help you with that.