Noncompetes are tough. It’s never in your favor to sign one, because I bet they’re not willing to give you any sort of compensation to make up for it. It’s really a bad idea to do it, but you may have no other choice to get started. I heard they’re not very enforceable anyway if you fight it. According to an article I saw, most people who fight them in court win
Yeah, I’m worried about it, especially since it seems this company might hire me. I’ve been in correspondence with my interviewer since the interview, and was told they liked me when the HR lady sent these employment application papers to fill out. However, that non-compete came out of nowhere. I’m not worried about the “competitors” thing, as there aren’t many out there for what they do. It seems like nothing good can come of a lock on what I develop while there though. I don’t know how far that will reach.
The sound legal advice is probably not to sign it. But honestly I’d probably just sign it and figure there’s very little chance they’d come after you and even if they did it’s probably unenforceable.
All of it. That’s separate from a non-compete though. All employers will require assignment of copyright to them.
If you do something on your own time on your own equipment you’re probably in the clear, but you’d best not do anything similar to what you do at work to play it safe.
There’s something else (cue ARRRGH! from the crowd) I didn’t think of: Salary.
This job is an hour away from where I live, so the salary should be worth the commute. However, I didn’t ask about pay during the interview, or since the interview. I’ve been busy with other things. Should I just up and ask what the salary is tomorrow, since we’ve been in contact, or wait until a possible offer to negotiate? If I get offered something during this late stage in unemployment, I have to take it as long as it’s more than my weekly benefit. That means even a crappy salary might be my only option if I wait. Now that I think about it, that it’s been this long with no indication of salary is probably a bad sign.
Yes, start talking about salary range. With smaller companies, salary range is one of the first things that comes up, just to make sure we’re in the same ballpark.
Shoot slightly high.
I am hesitant to give out what I make now, but a little honesty helps.
In your case, being unemployed, it’s really hard for me to understand the situation, the uncertainty.
Also remember, bonuses, stock options and vesting period, health care, 401k matching, IPO status. Be as detailed as you need to be. Sometimes some details need to wait until trust is built, others should be easy to answer.
I have the basic script that I just need to modify. I only wanted a slight modification I needed help with that would’ve taken less than a few hours (if even that) for this person to do.
on the “job” note: I let LinkedIn/developer friends/my local community/recruiters pull that off. LinkedIn is HUGE for this. Companies like Facebook and Yahoo contacted me about positions, in the last two years, because of this tool. I still have to respond to one of them. The former I didn’t get far with because I had doubts about my JS skill. They use PURE JavaScript. Complex, high level shit. If I had two more years, I’d go back at them, but since they came to me the first time: I’ve got somewhat of an in to attempt it.
Dev friends, in companies that you want in to, would step up to bat for you because of the in-job incentives such as a finder’s fee. These are redeemed after one’s contact passes the probation or 90 days in a perm role.
Dev meetup groups are another one. Sometimes, they are sponsored by a company that wants to hire. I know this because I co-run a developer focused meetup group, in my city, and they like to go this route. C#, Front End, Back Ends, all that. We get that sort of thing alot.
Recruiters are a mixed bag. They can get you into high end places that are more corporate than not. The cool, design shops ones would usually want someone either they approach or someone that “someone” knows. Always check out the recruiters and ask shitloads of questions before the representation comes.
Its a word press/classified ads script. in my modification i simply removed most of the features that I did not need to suit the design and functionality of my site.
I am leaving my current job and starting at Liquid Robotics. It’s a very good change for me. I had been looking for quite a while now, until I could find the right fit. http://liquidr.com/company/about-us.html
Dr James Gosling (yes THE Gosling) works there and has some interesting videos: http://vimeo.com/63421676
What’s the biggest range gap you can start out with when negotiating salary? I’ve asked about salary at this place I’ve been blabbing about, but all I’ve gotten is that I’ll know what the salary is if I get an offer. I don’t treat that as a good sign; some negotiating might be in order if they do offer me the gig. I need at least enough to make the commute worth it.
The crux of the problem is that this is a small company. I don’t know what their budgets are. My initial idea was to ask for 40-50k. However, I’m finding that average salaries for software engineers in that area seem to be 56k. So I was wondering if I change my range to “40-60k” or “50-60k”. I think I’d be happy with 40k, despite that being considerably below average.
I don’t think asking for a range is very intelligent. When I was going for an engineering position I said a single number. If you say a range why would they not go for the lower end of that range if there really is negotiations going on. It also let’s them know you know the going rate for what you are giving. Most places have a set amount and they’ll go a bit higher for really senior people. That’s my experience at least.
I’d say it’s better to ask at the higher end of your range, personally. I know my first job, they asked me what I was wanting to make, and I offered a low amount to try and get in the door (50k, in so cal). I kept that salary for about 3 years before getting a raise, and I always wondered if I could have gotten more.
If you’re happy with 40k, then ask for more, and let them come down to a lower number. For all you know they’re willing to pay 60k and if you offer 40k, they’re not gonna offer you the higher amount they were willing to. I don’t like when they ask you what you would like to make without disclosing how much they’re willing to pay. But it happens.
The fact they don’t straight up offer you a salary is kind of troubling, for all you know they’re wasting both of your time.
Yeah, that’s the big cloud over this whole thing. They have people at the place that commute from where I live and further, so maybe they have a decent salary around 40k. The area seems rich; I heard people make 15 an hour working at McDonalds around there.* Still, the fact that they’re holding salary until the offer is suspicious to me. Point taken though; I’m going to ask for 50k and hope I don’t get the “C’mon son” face.
*I’d do that, but I’d eat all that food up and get fired within the first week.
So I got a job offer. If I’m accepted, I’ll be going to India for training and then to the US for at least a year. Anyone have experience with consulting roles?
so i’m being told that in order to make the modifications that I want I need to pull in ads by descending date order, float the elements within a container and set the desired 50 per page. Which may be as simple as changing a setting in the script pagination call, or I may need to handle pagination myself.
Have any of you gotten work through staffing/recruitment companies? I haven’t had much luck applying to companies directly, but I’ve had several calls/emails from recruitment companies over the months. I respectfully decline over the phone or ignore the emails, because I don’t want any kind of middleman between me and my check and have NO real idea how these companies work. Also, their online reviews tend to suck.
However, being unemployed for so long makes me look worse and worse as time goes by (I would figure). I’ve been out of pocket for 3 months. The company I interviewed for might hire me, but they might not. If I want a job by January, I’m figuring I have to exhaust all possible resources. I’m thinking about utilizing recruiters/staffing agents alongside my regular searching. Has anyone used those? Is there a resource that teaches you the ins and outs about using them? I don’t want any surprises, especially around tax time.
