4 ms·

Why would you sign an NDA for a job interview?

mapleoin 15y ago
Some big companies make you sign an NDA the moment you enter the door. I always assumed it's natural for ugly corporatey giants.
- bstpierre 15y ago
  I've interviewed for small companies that want an NDA at the front door too.
  - wavephorm 15y ago
    Do your profession a favor and DO NOT sign an NDA in this situation. It's just terrible. Same goes for people that sign non-competes, and thought-police agreements upon being hired. Don't do it. It's optional, you have the right to refuse. By signing you are putting a huge amount of liability on your shoulders for no reason. You're giving that company the right to sue you for practically any reason they can conjure up.
    - jrockway 15y ago
      The company already has the right to sue you for any reason they can conjure up. This is America.
    - bstpierre 15y ago
      I don't really see the problem with a simple NDA. Them: We're going to tell you secret stuff during the interview. Promise not to blab? Me: Yeah, sure. As far as non-competes and IP-assignment, from what I've seen these have gotten much more reasonable over the past 15 years. If you write or invent it on the job, it's a "work for hire" and the company owns it. What's wrong with that? If you don't want to sign, that's fine. But there are probably 400 to 1000 other people interested in that open position, and 99% of them are going to sign the NDA. Them: Please sign this NDA. You: No, I don't sign NDAs. Them (looking at the next guy in line): NEXT!
    - laconian 15y ago
      You: "So, what are you guys working on?" Interviewer: "You didn't sign the NDA; I can't tell you." Yay!
- jrockway 15y ago
  I don't know if this is the case for interviews or not, but in general, you do not have to sign the NDA to visit Google. If you choose not to sign it, you get a different looking name sticker, and Googlers have to be careful not to show you anything that could be confidential. You're also restricted to common areas; you can't see your friend's desk. If you sign the NDA, you are allowed to see everything (within reason), and Googlers can be a little less guarded around you. But if you just want to have lunch at Google or attend a LUG meeting, you can do that without signing anything. In theory.
- objclxt 15y ago
  This might just be me, but I interviewed with Google on-site about 10 months ago and never signed an NDA. It wasn't even offered to me - and this was for an engineering job. So I wouldn't say it's 'standard', even at Google. That said, I've also never seen anyone blogging about their Google interviews who hasn't signed one, so maybe they just forgot the paperwork for me!
  - bluesnowmonkey 15y ago
    Are you sure? Do you remember entering your name on a touch screen in order to get your visitor badge? Yeah, there was a legal document in there. Probably should have read that.
spacemanaki 15y ago
There are some extraordinary situations where it really does make sense: an example I read on HN a long time ago was the first cellular radio engineers that Apple hired before building the iPhone. The simple fact that they interviewed for a job might have been under an NDA. This desire to protect secrets probably gets extrapolated and trickles down to every technical candidate.
paganel 15y ago
> Why would you sign an NDA for a job interview? Because they're Google. I know that's tautological, but I remember a blog post from some time ago about a guy complaining that all his friends that had been hired by Google had suddenly stopped chit-chatting about technical issues that they encountered at their workplace. They stopped doing that during the usual "at-a-drink-complaining-about-our-daily-job-ordeals" sessions, or on their blog, or anywhere else that might be publicly shared (and, why not? , maybe help other people learn from their (Google's) mistakes). The guy even compared Google with a "vortex", if I remember correctly.
- jarek 15y ago
  post in question: http://apenwarr.ca/log/?m=201103#24 http://apenwarr.ca/log/?m=201103#24 HN discussion at the time: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2362207 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2362207
prostoalex 15y ago
Because that allows for more casual conversations than "So what are you working on here?" - "Oh, can't tell you".

Some big companies make you sign an NDA the moment you enter the door. I always assumed it's natural for ugly corporatey giants.

bstpierre 15y ago
I've interviewed for small companies that want an NDA at the front door too.
- wavephorm 15y ago
  Do your profession a favor and DO NOT sign an NDA in this situation. It's just terrible. Same goes for people that sign non-competes, and thought-police agreements upon being hired. Don't do it. It's optional, you have the right to refuse. By signing you are putting a huge amount of liability on your shoulders for no reason. You're giving that company the right to sue you for practically any reason they can conjure up.
  - jrockway 15y ago
    The company already has the right to sue you for any reason they can conjure up. This is America.
  - bstpierre 15y ago
    I don't really see the problem with a simple NDA. Them: We're going to tell you secret stuff during the interview. Promise not to blab? Me: Yeah, sure. As far as non-competes and IP-assignment, from what I've seen these have gotten much more reasonable over the past 15 years. If you write or invent it on the job, it's a "work for hire" and the company owns it. What's wrong with that? If you don't want to sign, that's fine. But there are probably 400 to 1000 other people interested in that open position, and 99% of them are going to sign the NDA. Them: Please sign this NDA. You: No, I don't sign NDAs. Them (looking at the next guy in line): NEXT!
  - laconian 15y ago
    You: "So, what are you guys working on?" Interviewer: "You didn't sign the NDA; I can't tell you." Yay!
jrockway 15y ago
I don't know if this is the case for interviews or not, but in general, you do not have to sign the NDA to visit Google. If you choose not to sign it, you get a different looking name sticker, and Googlers have to be careful not to show you anything that could be confidential. You're also restricted to common areas; you can't see your friend's desk. If you sign the NDA, you are allowed to see everything (within reason), and Googlers can be a little less guarded around you. But if you just want to have lunch at Google or attend a LUG meeting, you can do that without signing anything. In theory.
objclxt 15y ago
This might just be me, but I interviewed with Google on-site about 10 months ago and never signed an NDA. It wasn't even offered to me - and this was for an engineering job. So I wouldn't say it's 'standard', even at Google. That said, I've also never seen anyone blogging about their Google interviews who hasn't signed one, so maybe they just forgot the paperwork for me!
- bluesnowmonkey 15y ago
  Are you sure? Do you remember entering your name on a touch screen in order to get your visitor badge? Yeah, there was a legal document in there. Probably should have read that.

spacemanaki 15y ago

There are some extraordinary situations where it really does make sense: an example I read on HN a long time ago was the first cellular radio engineers that Apple hired before building the iPhone. The simple fact that they interviewed for a job might have been under an NDA. This desire to protect secrets probably gets extrapolated and trickles down to every technical candidate.

paganel 15y ago

> Why would you sign an NDA for a job interview? Because they're Google. I know that's tautological, but I remember a blog post from some time ago about a guy complaining that all his friends that had been hired by Google had suddenly stopped chit-chatting about technical issues that they encountered at their workplace. They stopped doing that during the usual "at-a-drink-complaining-about-our-daily-job-ordeals" sessions, or on their blog, or anywhere else that might be publicly shared (and, why not? , maybe help other people learn from their (Google's) mistakes). The guy even compared Google with a "vortex", if I remember correctly.

jarek 15y ago
post in question: http://apenwarr.ca/log/?m=201103#24 http://apenwarr.ca/log/?m=201103#24 HN discussion at the time: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2362207 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2362207

prostoalex 15y ago

Because that allows for more casual conversations than "So what are you working on here?" - "Oh, can't tell you".