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Comment by drakonka | Hacker News Reader

I didn't ask this when I joined my current company, but have since learned my lesson. For future offers I will be sure to ask about the outside work project policy and pass if I feel it is overly restrictive.

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I also recommend you consult a lawyer on this. I did on a recent one that seemed overly restrictive, but it turns out they did it poorly so I was told I could do what I wanted and they could try to fight it but they would lose, and that would only be it they found out and cared. Since my side company I've had for years isn't related, I took the job and risk. Also keep in mind non-compete are often extremely difficult to enforce as we'll, another thing people sometimes get hung up on.

>> Also keep in mind non-compete are often extremely difficult to enforce as we'll, another thing people sometimes get hung up on.

haha right... a colleague of mine just was sued for attempting to join a company considered a competitor...we all had to sign NDAs that prohibit working for a number of companies in our field after we live current employer..

If company wants and there is an NDA/non-compete in place they can bury you in legal costs even if they dont win.

Be careful with highly restrictive NDA/non-competes.

How can they bury you in legal costs? If their contract is unenforceable you don’t really need a lawyer to tell that to the judge.

It isn't really about how enforceable it is for me personally. Sure a strict policy may not be enforceable in the sense that they can't straight out fire me or sue me with a chance of winning. But at worst a company can still pile on stress and legal fees trying and at best it can just ruin my relationship with my employer. That still sucks, and isn't really a position I'd be interested in getting into in the first place in the future.

This can be negotiable, even for contractors, you do not have to accept the boilerplate document they give you without changes.

That makes sense, thanks for mentioning it.

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