I'm very opposed to non-competes except in specific scenarios like selling a business (and non-solicitation agreements often make sense). However, I'm also very skeptical of the argument that CA's success in certain industries is remotely the result of unenforceable non-competes.

There often seems to be an assumption that non-competes are the norm everywhere else and, while they certainly exist (and some firms/industries are notorious for enforcing them) that just isn't the case anything like universally in my experience.

Or it's exactly the opposite, depending on how mobile you think companies are.

Why exactly?