[hansvm]

Wasting company time attracting competitors is surely a violation of your fiduciary duty. I don't pay you to sleep or eat, so why should I pay you to interview? At our competitors no less?

For anyone reading this thread seriously, the job market is fine, feel free to market your skills. As a rule of thumb, if your employer didn't agree to the raise till you presented a counteroffer then you should almost always leave. No matter what your employer said when you started or thereafter, if you're doing a fantastic job the "once per year" bonus/promotion cycle is bubkiss, and they will absolutely compensate you accordingly (on the flip-side, if you haven't been hired yet, don't start underleveled with a promise of a promotion except in dire circumstances; this has been hashed out before, but reply if you want more details).

[Bluecobra]

> if you haven't been hired yet, don't start underleveled with a promise of a promotion except in dire circumstances

I had this happen to me before, I was interviewing for a senior position and everything went well except the CTO decided I wasn’t senior enough for him. He said I could get there in a year or so if I met a few goals, got a few certs, etc. They even went as far as pulling the original job requisition off the website and downgrading it to a non-senior role. This (and a few other things) left a bad taste in my mouth and I politely declined the offer.

[mikhael28]

I made a non-serious, sarcastic and parodious comment in a serious thread. My bad guys!

I just think non-competes are bad for employees though - if someone sells trade secrets, that can be somewhat obvious, and can be pursued legally without non-competes. It just creates an environment that keeps people down at the benefit of the powerful.