Quote: Original post by indigox3
Thx for the input,

I got my confidentiality agreement in the mail a little while ago.
It says the usual "everything you do is ours" stuff, with a few exceptions.
Basically anything I do on my own time and equiptment is excluded, save for
inventions that either:
1) Relate to the company's business or R&D of the company
2) Result from work I do at the company

Since its not a game company, I think I'll be okay...

EvilDecl81, do you know if any provinces in Canada have the same/similar laws?

Dunno, might be worthy talking to a lawyer. Though, they like to over scare your risk of liability ;) Bear in mind that there are really 2 things to worry about. The first is liability, e.g.getting sued. That seems unlikely since you'd have to damage them first. The second is getting fired - even though an employer may not be able to lay claim to whatver you do, that doesn't mean they can't make you chose between doing it or walking.

I don't know how the legal system works in Canada, I assume it's a common law system like the US. I'd check with whatever equiv of your attorney general is (you can check the website).

It is quite likly that clause you are seeing is required by law, in which case the wording by be dictated by the state. Its quite funny to see people say, "Wow, my company is pretty reasonable, they let me work on the side!" when in reality the clause is required by state law (they never tell you that). Try googling the clause and your province and see what comes up. In most liberal states/provences, the law is on you side ;)

I find the whole idea very odd. It makes sense a company doesn't want to spend $thousands training you only for you to leave and use your new skills elsewhere, but how else could you ever change job?
I work as a 'serious' programmer, and since coming here have learned a lot more Visual Basic and Database stuff. Does that mean that applying for a job with a company who are in the same speciality as my current employer would cause problems in some countries/states? Or is it more like if I work on a new AI for bots in an FPS, I can't then get a new job working on AI for bots in an FPS? Because once you work on something or see how others around you do things, you automatically take on that knowledge yourself in the future. I worked for a games company before this doing physics for racing games. Now I'm making a racing game of my own and surprisingly some of my techniques are very similar to those I saw...

Quote: Original post by d000hg
I find the whole idea very odd. It makes sense a company doesn't want to spend $thousands training you only for you to leave and use your new skills elsewhere, but how else could you ever change job?
I work as a 'serious' programmer, and since coming here have learned a lot more Visual Basic and Database stuff. Does that mean that applying for a job with a company who are in the same speciality as my current employer would cause problems in some countries/states? Or is it more like if I work on a new AI for bots in an FPS, I can't then get a new job working on AI for bots in an FPS? Because once you work on something or see how others around you do things, you automatically take on that knowledge yourself in the future. I worked for a games company before this doing physics for racing games. Now I'm making a racing game of my own and surprisingly some of my techniques are very similar to those I saw...

I beleive courts have long ruled that knowledge gained via training is not owned in anyway by the company.

No compete clauses are a more complex matter. Usually it has to be pretty cut and dry before they are enforcable, and the since most states are 'right to work', it may mean the company pays you not to work.