I'm in a state that honors broad non-competes and invention clauses and it is virtually impossible to find a software engineering job without one attached to it

I'm in a state that honors broad non-competes and invention clauses and it is virtually impossible to find a software engineering job without one attached to it. 1099 work would give me more freedom to pursue other tasks while still doing work for other companies. Also, you can't tell a contractor what hours to work. So I would have more leverage to set my own hours. Edit: if I was in a state where non-competes were generally unenforceable it would probably be a different story.