For software developers
Before you sign that offer or contractor agreement, check these three things.
Whether it is an offer letter or a contractor agreement, a software role comes with paperwork about more than pay. It can decide who owns what you build in your own time, where you can work next, and how much of your evening belongs to the job.
This invention and restrictive covenant agreement reaches beyond the job: it takes inventions made on your own time and restricts work elsewhere even after a layoff.
Side projects are covered too
The assignment follows the dates of employment rather than the job, so a weekend project on your own laptop falls inside it as written.
Ask for
Ask for the assignment to cover inventions related to the company's business or made with its resources, and list existing projects in Exhibit A.
- The restriction applies even after a layoffHigh · Restrictions
- On-call time has no schedule or pay termsMedium · Payment
The numbers
In May 2025, there were 1,687,890 wage and salary jobs for software developers in the U.S., with a median annual wage of $135,980.
These figures count jobs, not people, and do not include self-employed work — so they say little about how many software developers work freelance or run their own business.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, national estimates for SOC 15-1252. Public domain.
Inventions, non-competes and on-call time
- Invention assignment — Check whether it covers only work related to the job, or anything you create while employed, including side projects on your own equipment.
- Non-compete and non-solicitation — Look at how long a restriction lasts, which companies it covers and whether it applies if you are let go.
- On-call and hours — If on-call duty or overtime is expected, check whether the contract says how it is scheduled and paid, or leaves it open.
Check the paperwork before you accept
Offer letters are short; the documents attached to them are not. Free: one analysis every 30 days, no card. Each analysis gives a risk read of the key clauses, quotes the contract's own words for its findings, and turns each flagged clause into a specific ask.
Analyze my contract — free- Encrypted in transit & at rest
- Files auto-deleted after 30 days
- Never used to train models
- Informational — not legal advice