Former IBMer Finally Starts Work at Apple

[JMcEntegart]

Former IBM employee, Mark Papermaster has finally started working at Apple, following nearly seven months of legal headaches and red tape.

Former IBMer Finally Starts Work at Apple : Read more

 

[tenor77]

Normally I find non-compete clauses just wrong. In college I worked as a manager of a pizza joint. I quit and started working for a different place and the douche tried to pull this kind of crap on me. Like I knew some great secret. It's pizza man!

That said if this guy knows tech secrets I can understand why IBM is upset.

 

[JMcEntegart]

[citation][nom]tenor77[/nom]Normally I find non-compete clauses just wrong. In college I worked as a manager of a pizza joint. I quit and started working for a different place and the douche tried to pull this kind of crap on me. Like I knew some great secret. It's pizza man!That said if this guy knows tech secrets I can understand why IBM is upset.[/citation]

Haha, that made my day.

 

[hemelskonijn]

It might be strange but this kind of stuff still amazes me.

Here in the Netherlands asking some one to sign a non-compete would probally not be legal, or at least it wont hold up in court.

If i signed it and my current employer switches to an other platform it would be likely i would get fired because the re-education costs way more than pulling a fresh kid from school.
A non-compete would then mean i cant do any sysadmin or system engineering or for that mater all-round tech employee work ever again ?

 

[JMcEntegart]

[citation][nom]hemelskonijn[/nom]It might be strange but this kind of stuff still amazes me.Here in the Netherlands asking some one to sign a non-compete would probally not be legal, or at least it wont hold up in court.If i signed it and my current employer switches to an other platform it would be likely i would get fired because the re-education costs way more than pulling a fresh kid from school.A non-compete would then mean i cant do any sysadmin or system engineering or for that mater all-round tech employee work ever again ?[/citation]

It's usually not forever (is anyone dumb enough to sign a self-renewing/perpetual non-compete agreement?). Mostly it's for a couple of years. Basically, just long enough for your old company to be working on something new when you take on a new position with a rival. At that stage, all you'll have is old information about older products.

 

[pim69]

This concept is absolutely unfair to any employee. I can understand an agreement that states the employee is not allowed to share secrets of course, but there is no reason they must be restricted from working for someone else as long as they don't share those secrets.

The military is a good example. Many people have high security clearance and are privy to secret information. Should they never be allowed to get another job for their entire lives? Or should they be forced to be unemployed for 1-2 years because the information they know should not be shared with ANYONE (never mind competing companies aka governments)?

How can someone in any field live for 1-2 years without a job if they decide to leave (or are laid off) from their current employment? Of course their skills would be most useful working for a competing company or customer of the company, that would be the best way to leverage yourself into a better position than what you currently have.

Since when did it become a crime to get a job doing what you know?? Are employers trying to scare employees away from looking for a new job? I don't get it.