1) This makes sense as an answer, I don't understand why people wouldn't read the contract for something that they rely on for their livelihood though.
2) Something like that should be a dealbreaker. No matter how much you want the job, it's effectively saying that you can never leave.
3) In the case of the letter here, he tries to negotiate it after he was fired. If he knew it was unenforceable, then he could have quite simply said so.
4) On their part this is a stupid assumption. You should always assume that a company is willing to back up their threats. Especially a company the size of Amazon.
This isn't to attack your answer, just to put my views on those points.
"2) Something like that should be a dealbreaker. No matter how much you want the job, it's effectively saying that you can never leave."
Based on your username I'm going to assume you're not used to conditions in the US. In my experience, working for 2 megacorps and a startup, this is pretty standard. So if that is a deal breaker good luck finding a job without moving to California. I think I read a story on HN a few weeks ago that said Jimmy Johns was enforcing non-compete agreements. The last one I signed basically said the company owns all work I do, even work I do in my own time (OSS, side projects, etc). I also am required to get permissions to contribute to OSS projects should I want to do that. I also cannot work for competitors (which is like everyone in the industry). I signed it because I don't think it is enforceable and I don't think the company would waste resources trying to enforce it on me.
There needs to be a federal law limiting the scope of these agreements. Preferable modeled after the CA laws.
2) Something like that should be a dealbreaker. No matter how much you want the job, it's effectively saying that you can never leave.
3) In the case of the letter here, he tries to negotiate it after he was fired. If he knew it was unenforceable, then he could have quite simply said so.
4) On their part this is a stupid assumption. You should always assume that a company is willing to back up their threats. Especially a company the size of Amazon.
This isn't to attack your answer, just to put my views on those points.