Well it doesn't stop just about every company from adding it into their employee contracts. Out of the last six jobs I've had here in Illinois, five of them had non-compete agreements, including two startups, one small business, one major corporation, and a contracting company (TekSystems).
The one job that didn't have a non-compete was a student job I held at the university while I was taking classes there.
None of them offered to pay me extra outside of the salary for 'consideration'. I've ended up switching which industry I work for with pretty much every job I've had (still software dev though), so it hasn't been an issue so far.
That being said, knowing that they're there has affected my decision making, including holding back on releasing games I developed in my spare time, to the point where I've been tempted to move to California to escape such bullshit.
The one job that didn't have a non-compete was a student job I held at the university while I was taking classes there.
None of them offered to pay me extra outside of the salary for 'consideration'. I've ended up switching which industry I work for with pretty much every job I've had (still software dev though), so it hasn't been an issue so far.
That being said, knowing that they're there has affected my decision making, including holding back on releasing games I developed in my spare time, to the point where I've been tempted to move to California to escape such bullshit.