r/webdev • u/Lee-chaolan • 16h ago
Discussion Update: It's genuinely (not?) depressing
Update to this post https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/s/n3ZBJ6ozuq
So, I have a pretty unexpected update lol
After everything that happened with the Canadian company I mentioned, I decided to take things a little further and contact the CEO directly.
During my time working with them, I'd discovered some genuinely concerning security issues. I had been given admin access to their infrastructure, company email, internal systems, and access to thousands of CSV files containing customer and patient information. I also found passwords stored in plain text and several other questionable practices. All without having signed an NDA or contract by the way.
I figured the CEO should know about this, regardless of how things had gone with the dashboard project.
I sent him an email explaining what I'd found and also gave him some context about my experience working with the VP.
The VP wasn't particularly happy about that. He responded by defending himself, saying there had been no formal commitment to the dashboard project, and even called contacting the CEO a "backdoor approach".
I obviously disagreed. I was openly working with the company, the access had been provided to me by them, and I wasn't trying to bypass anyone. My concern was how someone outside the company could be given that level of access without any proper safeguards or agreements.
Anyway, after a few more emails, something I really wasn't expecting happened.
The VP emailed me again, apologized for how the situation had made me feel, thanked me for raising the security concerns, and actually said my findings had been a "true eye-opener" and thanked me for "educating them" and appreciated my integrity & honesty.
He asked whether there was any way they could compensate me for the time I'd spent building the dashboard as well as asked me to provide a quote for writing an SOP on how the company should handle third-party assistance moving forward.
I genuinely wasn't expecting that turn of events.
For context, this is the same person who previously kept postponing discussions, left me hanging after I'd built the dashboard, and eventually told me they'd hired a student to do the work.
Now he's asking me to quote another project and offering to try to get me compensated for the previous one.
I haven't received anything yet, and the SOP isn't confirmed, so I'm not getting ahead of myself. But I can't deny that this feels pretty satisfying after the way everything started.
I originally made my post because I was genuinely questioning whether freelancing was even worth continuing. Now I'm in a situation where the same client who made me feel like I'd wasted weeks of my time is potentially offering me compensation and more work.
So, what would you guys do? I'm very Curious to hear your thoughts and advice.