When it comes to software engineering and the IT industry in general, contracts are a necessary part of doing business. Here and there, you sign NDAs

Contracts you should never sign

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2023-01-27 09:00:06

When it comes to software engineering and the IT industry in general, contracts are a necessary part of doing business. Here and there, you sign NDAs — as an employee, contractor, or company — which nowadays are a necessary evil. I'm not a fan of confidentiality agreements, as companies usually include clauses that have no place to be there. So, the best thing we as engineers can do is be aware of the types of contracts we're signing. Even better, if we know the contracts that we should avoid signing. In this article, I'll share some of my experience with legal documents.

Back in the day, I read an article by Joel Spolsky about the NDAs, and I agree with him 100% — companies did start abusing the NDAs/Non-Competes. Also, FTC has proposed to ban Non-Compete clauses in all employee contracts in 2023.

I also saw this tweet not long ago that reminded me that most engineers I know take contracts lightly. They trust and assume that, by default, the contract is already in their interest. Nobody is so evil that they would offer you to sign an agreement that is not beneficial for you, right?