[ghaff]

Tons of companies that aren't in California don't have non-competes or have very limited ones. I've never had a meaningful non-compete in the course of my career. (Had a very narrow one when one company was acquired.)

I'm certainly not a fan of non-competes but note that, even in California, a company can drag you into an expensive court battle over non-solicitation clauses, NDAs, etc. It's also a matter of non-competes not being enforceable in general. A small company may still choose not to hire you if they think there's a possibility they may need to go to court.

[snovv_crash]

I've had 3 in a row in Europe. I doubt they would have been enforceable, but from conversations with colleagues they certainly had a chilling effect.