1. Definitions

For the purposes of these Terms of Service ("Terms"), the following terms have the meanings set out below:

Service Provider — Rafał Ciok, the operator of Proud of Work, described in Section 2.
Service — Proud of Work, the platform at proudof.work, including the website, the underlying software, and all features described in Section 3.
User — any natural or legal person who accesses or uses the Service, whether or not they hold an Account.
Talent — a User who registers an Account to publish a Profile.
Company — a User who registers an Account of the "company" type in order to browse the Board. Company features and paid access described in these Terms are not active at launch; see Section 8.
Account — a User's registered access credentials and associated settings, created via Google OAuth, GitHub OAuth, or a one-time sign-in code sent by e-mail (Section 5).
Profile — a Talent's page on the Service, presenting their achievements, projects, and public presence in an anonymized form (without directly revealing the Talent's name or contact details) until unlocked.
Board — the public, searchable index of anonymized Talent Profiles, which any visitor may browse. It may also contain clearly-labelled sample Profiles, which do not represent real people.
Unlock — the act by which a Company, by spending Credits, obtains access to a Talent's identity and the ability to start a conversation with them within the Service. A Talent's e-mail address is never disclosed to a Company. Not active at launch; see Section 8.
Share Link — a link a Talent creates themselves that opens their Profile with their identity revealed to anyone holding it. Revocable and time-limited; described in Section 3.
Content — any text, image, link, file, or other material a User submits to the Service, including a Profile's achievements, projects, and presence entries.

2. Service provider details

Rafał Ciok, ul. Agrestowa 3, 82-200 Malbork, Poland, contact: hello@proudof.work

The Service Provider is a natural person based in Poland. All correspondence regarding the Service, these Terms, or a User's Account should be sent to the contact e-mail address above. These Terms are made available free of charge on the proudof.work website in a form that allows Users to access, download, reproduce, and print them, in accordance with Article 8(1) of the Polish Act of 18 July 2002 on the Provision of Electronic Services (ustawa o świadczeniu usług drogą elektroniczną).

These Terms enter into force on 2026-08-11.

3. Scope of services

Proud of Work lets professionals ("Talents") publish an anonymous, proof-of-work Profile: verifiable achievements, projects, and public presence (for example, open-source contributions, talks, or writing), without initially disclosing their name or contact details. Companies may browse the Board of anonymized Profiles and, where a Profile matches their needs, spend Credits to Unlock it — revealing the Talent's identity (name, photo, social handles, and the links on their projects and public-presence entries) and opening a messaging channel to them inside the Service, with no separate acceptance step required from the Talent.

At the time these Terms take effect, Talent registration, Profile publishing, and the public Board of anonymized Profiles are active: any visitor may browse the Board, and a published Profile is listed there in anonymized form. Company registration, Credits, the Unlock mechanism, and on-platform messaging described in this Section and in Section 8 are part of the Service's intended scope but are not yet active; they will be enabled in a future release, and this document will be updated accordingly with prior notice under Section 14 before they go live. Until they go live, Profiles stay anonymized on the Board, and the only mechanism that reveals a Talent's identity is a Share Link the Talent creates themselves.

Independently of the Unlock mechanism, a Talent may create a Share Link. It opens their Profile showing their name, photo, and the links on their projects and public-presence entries to anyone holding the link, and needs no Account on the recipient's side. Expected salary and e-mail address are never included. The Talent decides whether to create one, sets how long it lasts, and may revoke it at any time, after which it stops working.

Publication on the Board is conditional on an automated check. Before a Profile is published, and again whenever its free-text Content changes, that Content is checked automatically for information that would identify the Talent ahead of an Unlock — a named employer or client, for example. Content the check flags is held back from the public Board until the Talent edits it and re-runs the check, which they may do at any time from their dashboard, or asks for review by a person using the contact address in Section 2. The Profile and the Profile editor remain fully available meanwhile. This check looks only for information identifying the Talent: it is not a review of the Talent's own confidentiality obligations, which remain solely theirs under Section 7. Section 12 of the Privacy Policy describes how the check works.

Once messaging is active, a conversation can be started only by a Company that has Unlocked the Profile. A Talent cannot initiate contact with a Company, and may reply once a conversation exists. Messages are carried by the Service rather than by e-mail: neither party's e-mail address is disclosed to the other by the Service, and Section 6 applies to message content as it does to any other Content. This is what a Credit pays for — the ability to open a channel to the Talent, not an answer from them, and a Talent is under no obligation to reply.

The Service Provider may, at its discretion, add, modify, or discontinue individual features of the Service, provided that any such change to a paid or previously-agreed feature is carried out in accordance with Section 14.

4. Technical requirements

To use the Service, a User needs: (a) a device with internet access; (b) a current version of a web browser supporting HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, with cookies and local storage enabled; and (c) for registration, a working Google account, GitHub account, or e-mail address capable of receiving the one-time sign-in code. The Service Provider is not responsible for the User's inability to access the Service caused by the User's own hardware, software, or internet connectivity.

Using the Service carries the ordinary risks of using the internet, including the risk of malware or unauthorized interception of data in transit. The Service Provider applies reasonable technical and organizational security measures (including encrypted connections) to mitigate these risks, as described further in the Privacy Policy.

5. Registration, contract formation and termination

An Account is created by signing in via Google OAuth, GitHub OAuth, or a one-time sign-in code sent by e-mail, and selecting an account type (Talent today; Company once that feature is active, per Section 3). The contract for the provision of Service by electronic means is concluded at the moment the Account is successfully created, and is entered into for an indefinite period.

A Talent Account grants access to the Profile editor and, once a Profile is published, listing on the Board (subject to the Talent's own sharing choices). A Company Account, once activated, will grant access to browse the Board and to Unlock Profiles using Credits.

A User may terminate the contract (delete their Account) at any time, without giving a reason, from their account settings or by e-mailing hello@proudof.work.

A Talent's Profile is taken off the Board as soon as the request is received, so it can no longer be found, matched, or Unlocked. The Account and, subject to the retention periods described in the Privacy Policy, the associated Profile and Content are then permanently deleted 14 days later. Within those 14 days the User may cancel the request and keep the Account. Once messaging is active, a Company already in a conversation with that Talent is shown the date the Account will be deleted, so that it can save what it needs beforehand.

The Service Provider may suspend or terminate a User's Account with immediate effect if the User materially breaches these Terms (in particular Section 6 or Section 7), or where required by law. Where practicable, the Service Provider will give the User notice and a reasonable opportunity to remedy the breach before termination, unless the breach is serious or repeated.

6. User obligations and prohibited content

The User undertakes to use the Service in a manner consistent with these Terms, applicable law, and good practice, and not to supply content of an unlawful character (in accordance with Article 8(3)(2)(b) of the Act on the Provision of Electronic Services). In particular, the User must not:

impersonate another person or misrepresent their identity, qualifications, achievements, or affiliation;
publish false, misleading, defamatory, or infringing Content;
upload malicious code, or attempt to circumvent the Service's technical or security measures;
scrape, harvest, or systematically extract Profiles or Board data other than through features the Service Provider makes available for that purpose;
use the Service to send unsolicited commercial communications (spam) to other Users; or
use the Service in a way that infringes the rights of third parties, including intellectual property, personal data, or confidentiality rights (see Section 7).

The User is solely responsible for the Content they submit and confirms they hold all rights necessary to publish it under Section 12.

7. Confidentiality / NDA disclaimer

Many achievements, projects, and presence entries a Talent wishes to describe were produced in the course of employment or client engagements that may be subject to confidentiality obligations, non-disclosure agreements ("NDAs"), or contractual restrictions on disclosure.

The Talent is solely and exclusively responsible for ensuring that any Content they publish on their Profile does not breach any confidentiality, non-disclosure, or similar obligation owed to a current or former employer, client, or other third party. Before publishing, the Talent must review their own contractual and legal obligations and adapt their description accordingly (for example, by describing the nature and scale of a contribution without disclosing a client's identity, proprietary information, or trade secrets).

In particular, the Talent must not post information that identifies a client, employer, or engagement where that identity itself is confidential, nor any proprietary, non-public technical, financial, or business information belonging to a third party.

Content is checked automatically before publication for information that would identify the Talent before an Unlock (Privacy Policy, Section 12). That check protects the Talent's anonymity and nothing else. The Service Provider does not review Content for compliance with the Talent's confidentiality obligations before publication, accepts no liability for a Talent's breach of such obligations, and Content that clears the automatic check must not be treated as any assurance that publishing it is permitted. Where the Service Provider becomes aware that published Content plausibly breaches a third party's confidentiality or NDA rights, it may remove or restrict the Content and, if applicable, notify the Talent, without prejudice to the Talent's own liability toward the affected third party.

8. Fees

At the time these Terms take effect, use of the Service by Talents is free of charge, and Company registration, the Board, Credits, and the Unlock feature described in Sections 1 and 3 are not yet active. No fees are currently charged to any User.

When Company access and the Credit-based Unlock model are introduced, the Service Provider will publish the applicable price list, payment methods, and billing terms, and will notify Users of the change with reasonable prior notice in accordance with Section 14, before any fee becomes payable. Continuing to use a feature that has become paid after such notice constitutes acceptance of the applicable fee; a User who does not accept the fee may stop using that feature and, where relevant, exercise the rights described in Section 9.

9. Right of withdrawal (14 days)

If the User is a consumer (or a natural person concluding the contract directly related to their business activity where the contract is not of a professional character for that person) within the meaning of the Polish Act of 30 May 2014 on Consumer Rights (ustawa o prawach konsumenta), the User has the right to withdraw from the Account-registration contract within 14 days of concluding it, without giving any reason and without incurring any costs (the Service is currently provided free of charge).

To exercise the right of withdrawal, the User must send the Service Provider an unambiguous statement of withdrawal before the 14-day period expires, for example by e-mail to hello@proudof.work. The User may, but does not have to, use the template below.

Withdrawal form template

To: Rafał Ciok, ul. Agrestowa 3, 82-200 Malbork, hello@proudof.work

I hereby give notice that I withdraw from my contract for the provision of the Proud of Work service.

Date the Account was created: [____]

Name of the consumer: [____]

Address of the consumer: [____]

Signature (only if this form is submitted on paper): [____]

Date: [____]

Because creating an Account gives the Talent immediate access to a free digital service, by completing registration and publishing a Profile the Talent expressly requests that performance of the Service begin immediately, before the 14-day withdrawal period expires, and acknowledges that this Service is currently provided free of charge. As no price is charged today, withdrawal does not carry any payment obligation. If and when a paid feature under Section 8 is introduced, the Service Provider will separately request the User's explicit consent to immediate performance of that specific paid feature and will inform the User, at that time, of the consequences for the right of withdrawal under Article 38 of the Act on Consumer Rights.

Withdrawing from the contract terminates the Account in the same way as deletion under Section 5; it does not, by itself, delete Content already made public through other means (for example, content the User has independently shared elsewhere).

10. Complaints

A User who believes the Service is not functioning as described in these Terms may file a complaint by e-mail to hello@proudof.work. The complaint should describe the issue and, where possible, include the Account e-mail address and screenshots or other supporting information.

The Service Provider will respond to a complaint within 14 days of receipt. In accordance with Article 7a of the Act on Consumer Rights, if the Service Provider fails to respond within that period, the complaint is deemed accepted.

11. Out-of-court dispute resolution

A User who is a consumer may use out-of-court methods of handling complaints and pursuing claims. In particular, the consumer may request mediation or arbitration from the competent Provincial Inspectorate of Trade Inspection (Wojewódzki Inspektorat Inspekcji Handlowej), or seek assistance from a district or municipal consumer ombudsman (powiatowy/miejski rzecznik konsumentów) or a consumer organization (for example the Federacja Konsumentów). A current register of entities authorized to conduct out-of-court consumer dispute resolution under the Act of 23 September 2016 on Out-of-Court Resolution of Consumer Disputes is maintained by the President of UOKiK at polubowne.uokik.gov.pl.

The European Commission's former ODR platform at ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr was discontinued on 20 July 2025. Consumers can instead use the European Commission's Consumer Redress Portal at https://consumer-redress.ec.europa.eu, which lists the competent out-of-court dispute resolution (ADR) bodies across the EU and offers a "Solution Finder" tool for cross-border complaints.

Use of these out-of-court mechanisms is voluntary; the Service Provider's participation in a given procedure will be confirmed on a case-by-case basis in line with applicable regulations.

12. Intellectual property

The User retains ownership of the Content they submit. By publishing Content on the Service, the User grants the Service Provider a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, display, and make that Content available through the Service (including the Board, a Profile page, and any shareable link the User generates) for as long as the Content remains published, and to retain and use it as necessary to operate, secure, and improve the Service and to comply with legal obligations after removal, to the extent described in the Privacy Policy. This licence does not transfer ownership and does not permit the Service Provider to sell the User's Content to third parties independently of operating the Service.

The Service itself — including its software, design, layout, trademarks, and the Proud of Work name and logo — is the property of the Service Provider or its licensors and is protected by the Polish Act of 4 February 1994 on Copyright and Related Rights and other applicable intellectual property law. Nothing in these Terms grants the User any right in the Service beyond the licence to use it as intended by these Terms.

13. Liability

The Service Provider takes reasonable care to keep the Service available and secure but does not warrant that it will be uninterrupted, error-free, or available at all times, and is not liable for outages caused by factors outside its reasonable control (including third-party hosting, network, or OAuth-provider failures).

The Service Provider is not liable for the accuracy, completeness, or lawfulness of Content published by Users, including a Talent's description of their achievements or a Company's use of information obtained through an Unlock; each User is responsible for verifying information relevant to their own decisions made in reliance on the Service.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law, including liability for wilful misconduct, for damage to a consumer resulting from the Service Provider's fault where the Act on Consumer Rights or the Civil Code prohibits such an exclusion, or liability arising under Section 7's confidentiality provisions to the extent it belongs to the Talent rather than the Service Provider. Subject to the foregoing, the Service Provider's liability for damage arising from use of the free features of the Service is limited to cases of intentional fault or gross negligence.

14. Amendments to these Terms

The Service Provider may amend these Terms for valid reasons, including changes in applicable law, the introduction of new features (such as the Company/Unlock features described in Sections 3 and 8), security requirements, or changes to the scope of the Service.

The Service Provider will publish the amended Terms on the Service. Where an amendment is material — in particular one introducing or changing fees, altering the Unlock or reveal model, or broadening how a User's data is shared — the Service Provider will also notify Users holding an active Account, by e-mail or an in-Service notice, at least 14 days before it takes effect, stating the new effective date and what changed, and may require acceptance before further use of the Service. Other amendments take effect on publication with an updated date, without individual notice.

A User who does not accept an amended version of these Terms may terminate their Account under Section 5 at any time, including before the amendment takes effect. Continued use of the Service after the new effective date constitutes acceptance of the amended Terms. This Section does not affect a consumer's statutory rights, which cannot be diminished by an amendment.

15. Governing law

These Terms are governed by Polish law, in particular the Civil Code (Kodeks cywilny) and the Act on the Provision of Electronic Services. Where the User is a consumer habitually resident in another EU/EEA Member State, this choice of law does not deprive the consumer of the protection afforded by mandatory provisions of the law of their country of habitual residence, in accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 (Rome I). Disputes will be submitted to the competent Polish courts, subject to any mandatory consumer-protection venue rules and to the out-of-court options described in Section 11.