Hello friends Recently got an offer from AWS for L6 role and was surprised to see on the contract that anytime and after I leave Amazon for 18 months , I cannot look for opportunities with another competitor like Azure, Google etc. Please see attached image for exact language on the contract Need to go back to the recruiter soon and would appreciate your feedback on below: 1. Has anyone seen this on their contracts recently? 2. Is this just an AWS thing? 3. Can I ask my recruiter given I am not comfortable signing this , find me another role in a different Amazon line of business e.g. Alexa that does not have such a Non compete? 4. Since I have cleared LOOP , does the recruiter than need to find me another role or you guys think Amazon would just rescind offer and will move on? Sorry for too many questions but want to figure out best way forward. Thanks #AWS #AMAZON
In reality, these non-competes are hard to enforce.
Can't enforce.
Thanks guys but curious if all this is hard to enforce or can't be enforced why do they put such language in the contract? I mean there has to be a reason. Also have you folks seen similar language on your contract
It's a tool Legal can use if they suspect you're going to leak proprietary information to the competing company. You'd be an L6, nobody will care. If you're in leadership or a high visibility SWE, then they have the non-compete in place to take action if they want to. Rarely rarely rarely happens.
This seems to be a very broad non compete . Says for 18 months , doesn’t specifically mention geography but says worldwide, doesn’t specifically mention competitors. This is extremely ambiguous and I would say legally not enforceable. I have seen non competes before and they are pretty specific in what they ask for.
Also I asked a friend who was hired at SDE L4 , 4 years ago and did not have this language on his contact
I was hired at L4 in 2020 and iirc I had the non compete in the contract.
I noticed the same in my papers and it concerns me so probably won't sign for that and other reasons such as return to office for 2 days.
Thanks.. how recent was your AWS offer ? Also sorry can you explain on "return to office for 2 days". I did not see that on my contract
Yes, recent offer within the last week. HM said that they expect everyone to be onsite 2 days starting June. It's not put in the contract anywhere so you will have to talk with Hiring Manager to understand what they expect.
Any customer of Amazon in that non compete pretty much covers the entire world, unless they pay you for that 18 month resting period, seems pretty unreasonable
L5 Canada same contract for non AWS. IMO this cannot be enforced
Bro, Charlie Bell went from AWS to Azure, he was like the father of AWS led almost everything in AWS for 15+ years, an S-Team member. I think you will be fine!
Recruiters will be useless. There’s no point in going back to them about this. Seek your own legal counsel if you want it, but chances are, Amazon won’t change verbiage on the non-compete for you
Thanks . Quick follow up question. Then when you apply for other roles with competitor at the time of the application, do you say "yes" or "no" to the question that you are currently restricted by a non compete ?
What level is this for?
First sentence
L6