

Ask HN: Developer Contract Question - antoniuschan99

I have an offer to work at a software development shop for a few months but it&#x27;s through a recruiter.<p>I&#x27;ve worked with recruiters (and recruitment agencies) in the past and they&#x27;ve always emailed me a copy of the contract for me to sign. This time they want me to go to the office and sign it. I am uneasy about this for two main reasons:<p>I have a copy of the signed document and everything else in writing. If any disagreement comes, I can prove it through the emails.<p>I can spend more time going over the document and making sure everything is good.<p>I&#x27;ve asked them to send me a copy but they&#x27;ve only sent me a copy of a standard contract that they would draft it from.<p>The recruitment agency is a big name agency, so I&#x27;m surprised they are making this so difficult.<p>Is this usual practice? What&#x27;s the reasoning behind this?<p>Thanks!
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josho
You just made the recruiter several thousand dollars for placing you. I
suspect they want you in their office as a customer relationship tactic. Ie.
Thank you for working with them, here's our coffee mug as a gift for working
with us, etc.

Do not sign anything without properly reviewing it. If it's a simple one page
agreement with simple terms like agreeing to work together, that's fine. But
if they want you to sign a 4 page employment letter the. Clearly don't. --a
good reason to share for not signing is that you need time to properly review,
or simply that you don't have time to read the document now, but you can
return it to them tomorrow.

~~~
MichaelCrawford
Ditto: "DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING WITHOUT PROPERLY REVIEWING IT."

If you aren't _completely_ confident that you understand contract law, then
the instant they hand it to you just politely and pleasantly say "Thanks - I'd
like to run it by my attorney" then split the scene completely.

If there is anything I regret about my career it's that I've signed ill-
advised contracts.

Don't listen to any excuses about how "it's our standard contract" or "it's
just boilerplate".

What that contract actually means depends on the presiding jurisdiction, for
example in California Non-Compete Agreements are unenforceable; I expect
that's the case in some other places but by no means all of them.

Even if you don't really have an attorney, claiming that you do will enable
you to take the time you need to puzzle over the contract without them
breathing down your neck.

If there are specific clauses that you do not agree with, draw a rectangle
around them, an "X" across them, then your initials and the date in the
margin.

If they simply will not sign the contract themselves after you've done that
then my advice is that you get up and leave.

Twice now I've been presented contracts that specified that I assigned the
employer all of the IP that I had ever developed. Not during the time of
employment, but previously.

For example when I was five years old I worked out a novel and unobvious way
to tie my own shoes. Those two contracts would have assigned my shoe-tying
technique to my employers.

One of them I flatly refused to sign the contract, but was hired anyway. On my
last day - after doing lots of good work - I signed a very normal NDA.

The other I Xed out the clause that assigned my IP. They were OK with it and
countersigned it.

Make sure you have two identical copies of the contract and that you and they
sign both - that is, if you sign anything at all. Take one copy with you
afterward.

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damm
+1 what josho said.

It would be helpful knowing the OP is located; as in the US (Washington) some
Recruiters will bait and switch you once you get into the office. So be
careful what you sign and agree to.

