> Large companies definitely don’t try to prohibit you from telling people you worked there.
They don't. But they do sometimes prohibit talking/writing about their work, the nature of it or anything remotely connected to it.
My current employer explicitly prohibits us from blogging about technical topics, creating learning material or even teaching anyone on technical subjects(e.g. on weekends at nearby school) outside the job for free/money.
That’s not very common either. I’ve never signed anything like that in 20 years in the industry (worked everywhere from tiny startups to very large tech companies).
In the case where your company does have a policy that that prohibits you from discussing the nature of your work, it’s likely completely unenforceable beyond them firing firing you.
The prohibition from teaching or blogging is definitely unenforceable.
Of course, that was the FTC in 2024. Who knows what the administration will change this year?
Sure, I can't talk much about company games I worked on outside of "I worked on this", even after release. But they sure as heck can't prevent me from making a tutorial on C++ in my free time.
They don't. But they do sometimes prohibit talking/writing about their work, the nature of it or anything remotely connected to it.
My current employer explicitly prohibits us from blogging about technical topics, creating learning material or even teaching anyone on technical subjects(e.g. on weekends at nearby school) outside the job for free/money.