In general there's less friction when shifting jobs in California due to non-compete clauses being (mostly) banned: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-compete_cl

In general there's less friction when shifting jobs in California due to non-compete clauses being (mostly) banned: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-compete_clause#California http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-compete_clause#California The article mentions a case in 1998 where out of state non-compete clauses cannot be enforced in California. They are enforceable in Washington state, Microsoft's main location: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-compete_clause#Washington http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-compete_clause#Washington This might be one reason why you haven't seen something like this at Microsoft.