I once interviewed with a game company, and 5 minutes before the interview they sprung an NDA on me and severely rushed me through signing it. I had time to notice that it said they had rights to any work I might do in the future that was "based on" anything they showed me in the interview. Since I do a lot of private development of my own game technology, I then had to specifically get them to assure me they would not show me anything proprietary in the interview.
Wow, that's such a horrible move I would have walked on the spot. NEVER sign something under duress like that, although the fact it was at least somewhat under duress would likely help you in court.
The only time I ever interviewed with a company that wanted me to sign an NDA first they faxed or emailed me a copy at least a day ahead of the interview.
This has happened to me several times, for company names that you most likely have heard of. They don't even bother to tell you ahead of time.
In one case where they told me about it ahead of time, I refused to accept it, and they refused to interview me.
In one case, facing this last-minute NDA, I wrote on it just above my signatures something like "it is understood that nothing confidential and proprietary will be shared with me and so this agreement is effectively void". The receptionist had no issues with it (she didn't even read).
In another case, the NDA was offered on an electronic display with a signature pad (so I could not make any edits). I decided to proceed in that specific case.
These same agreements often say that you'll not disclose anything confidential and proprietary to them. Yet they openly ask those questions. Some often even expect your previous code samples should be publicly available on Github. (I am looking for a chance to ask them if their IP contract allows employees to put their code on Github.)
The root-cause of this problem: It is not the companies or the lawyers, it is the most of us who sign these agreements without reading. The latter tilts the equilibrium for the contracts in the favor of the companies.
Well, as I note enforcing it could be quite difficult. And more than 1 or 2 pages is a really bad sign.
The real danger probably isn't that they'll try to enforce it per se, but that they could make you "radioactive" by the threat of it, or an enforcement action, even if ultimately unsuccessful. Hopefully no or few potential future employees will ask about them, and if this happened in California and you're still they (it gets more complicated if you're only now in the state), any non-compete provisions are unenforceable as such.
