First, Don't sign it.
I usually make it a policy not to sign anything after I'm employed unless it
involves a wage review. Why? Because if I sign something after they have employe
d
me I see it as them re defining my employment conditions (and you can bet  it
won't be in my favour). If they want to change my employment conditions then so
do I, gimee more money. This usually slows them down a bit. The more ridiculous
their demands are the more your's are. I don't take this stand to annoy them,
just to protect myself. After a while poeple tend to leave you alone to do the
things you were employed to do

Regards
Stuart
P.S. If they do meet your requests, consult a lawer (a good one ). Over here I
beleive they can legally hold you an agreement like that.



Peter Roberts wrote:

> I know this is off topic, but I thought, since a number of the people on this
> list are employed as engineers, we would benefit from this discussion.
>
> Here's the situation.  After 8 years at my current employer, my boss throws
> this non-compete/non-disclosure agreement in front of me.  Needless to say,
> it was written to totally protect him, with very little (if any ) concern for
> my welfare.
>
> Now I have to re-write it to protect myself before signing it.  I understand
> his desire to protect his investment, but it seems that bosses have a hard
> time understanding that we as engineers also have an investment in the years
> spent working for our employers.  No matter what anyone says, Engineers who
> are employees do not think or behave like "normal" employees.  They have a
> much more personal interest in and professional stake in what they do.
>
> The history of the company is that it is a small company with a dozen
> employees who make custom sub-assemblies for our customers.  We do not
> restrict ourselves to any industry or field.  We will design and build
> anything for anybody.  Needless to say, to agree to not compete against this
> type of company , precludes you from working in any of the industries of any
> of the current customers.  This can get quite broad and therefore quite
> limiting for an engineer.
>
> Does anyone have any advise on how I can protect myself? Has anyone here had
> to sign similiar agreements. Is there a source of sample contracts that are
> more balanced, or favor the engineer?
>
> Looking forward to the discussion
>
> Peter