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> Cue the apologists working for the big silicon valley players... Why? Silicon Valley is in California where noncompetes are illegal. Silicon Valley companies

> Cue the apologists working for the big silicon valley players... Why? Silicon Valley is in California where noncompetes are illegal. Silicon Valley companies don't use them. I've been in Silicon Valley my entire career and I have never seen one or heard of anyone who has.

foobiekr 8y ago
I have personally witnessed a silicon valley company attempt to impose a non-compete on some employees in another state.
cryptonector 8y ago
Did you read the rest of the post you're responding to? Did I miss something? I thought u/adyidsinga explained it quite well.
- twblalock 8y ago
  > Did you read the rest of the post you're responding to? Did I miss something? I thought u/adyidsinga explained it quite well. Who? Nobody with that username has posted anywhere in this entire thread as far as I can tell.
  - tomhoward 8y ago
    They mean andyidsinga.
alistairSH 8y ago
All of those companies extend outside of California. Googling “google noncompete” turned up several examples. Here’s one... https://gawker.com/378444/did-you-sign-googles-noncompete-good-youre-fired https://gawker.com/378444/did-you-sign-googles-noncompete-go...
harry8 8y ago
I don't follow, which part did you fail to understand?
- harry8 8y ago
  The response has now been edited and explains more fully as a result of that. Just FYI. Charitable, yes. We should all be more so.
- fragmede 8y ago
  The part where trying to enforce a non-compete in California will get you laughed (literally!) out of a lawyers office. Unless the employee in question is unable to use Google and search for "non compete california", which, I'd hope every tech worker is able to use Google, the zeroth (meaning, it's right on the search results page, and not a link away, it states "In the state of California, non-compete agreements that seek to prohibit employees from obtaining gainful employment are null and void."
  - leereeves 8y ago
    While I believe that's true, anyone with a serious concern shouldn't be taking legal advice from search results.
- PhoenixReborn 8y ago
  I've never been asked to sign a noncompete when working in California for any company, including Google. I have not worked at the others so I can't say what their practices are, but most CA-based companies will never even try to get you to sign a non-compete agreement because they know it cannot be enforced.
  - greglindahl 8y ago
    IBM's contract with California employees doesn't have anything inappropriate for a California employee. That sort of thing is a basic indication of business ethics. Say what you will about IBM in other areas, but they're very ethical about employment contracts.
pnw_hazor 8y ago
SV companies operating in Washington State have some of the worst non-competes.
harry8 8y ago
"Why? Silicon Valley is in California where noncompetes are illegal" Everything that follows this is a subsequent edit.
- Stratoscope 8y ago
  Is that a problem? I routinely edit my own comments to clarify a thought or fix a typo, and I'm grateful when others take the trouble to do the same.
  - harry8 8y ago
    Go right ahead and note the edit. You see it frequently around here, people write edit: I'm adding this bit for further explanation. I was being criticised rather heavily for responding to what was written as it didn't look "Charitable" in the light of subsequent expansion. It's right there still if you care to look. edit: this conversation thread has been completely de-railed by it. Was that the point? Who knows...
    - Stratoscope 8y ago
      I hope you won't mind too much if I disagree with you about this. I don't personally find any value in remarks like "edit: fixed a typo and added a couple more sentences to help explain what I meant." I don't plan to start adding those kinds of remarks when I edit a comment. I don't care if other people do this, I just don't see any value in it myself, and I'm just as happy if people simply edit their comments without calling special attention to the edit. I'm not following the history of their comment, I'm just reading it at the moment I read it. Of course if people have replied to a comment, and a subsequent edit changes the meaning of the comment so the replies don't make sense any more, that is a different story and deserves an "edit" remark.
      - harry8 8y ago
        Ok then don't edit your comment at all. Changing the context of the responses to make them look bad is a dk move full stop the end. Clear enough? Good o. Best.
ghaff 8y ago
They're not illegal. They're just unlikely to be enforceable. Big difference.
Gibbon1 8y ago
And those SV companies also were caught having a no poaching agreements between each other. If those guys could enforce non-competes in California they would do so reflexively.

foobiekr 8y ago

I have personally witnessed a silicon valley company attempt to impose a non-compete on some employees in another state.

cryptonector 8y ago

Did you read the rest of the post you're responding to? Did I miss something? I thought u/adyidsinga explained it quite well.

twblalock 8y ago
> Did you read the rest of the post you're responding to? Did I miss something? I thought u/adyidsinga explained it quite well. Who? Nobody with that username has posted anywhere in this entire thread as far as I can tell.
- tomhoward 8y ago
  They mean andyidsinga.

alistairSH 8y ago

All of those companies extend outside of California. Googling “google noncompete” turned up several examples. Here’s one... https://gawker.com/378444/did-you-sign-googles-noncompete-good-youre-fired https://gawker.com/378444/did-you-sign-googles-noncompete-go...

harry8 8y ago

I don't follow, which part did you fail to understand?

harry8 8y ago
The response has now been edited and explains more fully as a result of that. Just FYI. Charitable, yes. We should all be more so.
fragmede 8y ago
The part where trying to enforce a non-compete in California will get you laughed (literally!) out of a lawyers office. Unless the employee in question is unable to use Google and search for "non compete california", which, I'd hope every tech worker is able to use Google, the zeroth (meaning, it's right on the search results page, and not a link away, it states "In the state of California, non-compete agreements that seek to prohibit employees from obtaining gainful employment are null and void."
- leereeves 8y ago
  While I believe that's true, anyone with a serious concern shouldn't be taking legal advice from search results.
PhoenixReborn 8y ago
I've never been asked to sign a noncompete when working in California for any company, including Google. I have not worked at the others so I can't say what their practices are, but most CA-based companies will never even try to get you to sign a non-compete agreement because they know it cannot be enforced.
- greglindahl 8y ago
  IBM's contract with California employees doesn't have anything inappropriate for a California employee. That sort of thing is a basic indication of business ethics. Say what you will about IBM in other areas, but they're very ethical about employment contracts.

pnw_hazor 8y ago

SV companies operating in Washington State have some of the worst non-competes.

harry8 8y ago

"Why? Silicon Valley is in California where noncompetes are illegal" Everything that follows this is a subsequent edit.

Stratoscope 8y ago
Is that a problem? I routinely edit my own comments to clarify a thought or fix a typo, and I'm grateful when others take the trouble to do the same.
- harry8 8y ago
  Go right ahead and note the edit. You see it frequently around here, people write edit: I'm adding this bit for further explanation. I was being criticised rather heavily for responding to what was written as it didn't look "Charitable" in the light of subsequent expansion. It's right there still if you care to look. edit: this conversation thread has been completely de-railed by it. Was that the point? Who knows...
  - Stratoscope 8y ago
    I hope you won't mind too much if I disagree with you about this. I don't personally find any value in remarks like "edit: fixed a typo and added a couple more sentences to help explain what I meant." I don't plan to start adding those kinds of remarks when I edit a comment. I don't care if other people do this, I just don't see any value in it myself, and I'm just as happy if people simply edit their comments without calling special attention to the edit. I'm not following the history of their comment, I'm just reading it at the moment I read it. Of course if people have replied to a comment, and a subsequent edit changes the meaning of the comment so the replies don't make sense any more, that is a different story and deserves an "edit" remark.
    - harry8 8y ago
      Ok then don't edit your comment at all. Changing the context of the responses to make them look bad is a dk move full stop the end. Clear enough? Good o. Best.

ghaff 8y ago

They're not illegal. They're just unlikely to be enforceable. Big difference.

Gibbon1 8y ago

And those SV companies also were caught having a no poaching agreements between each other. If those guys could enforce non-competes in California they would do so reflexively.