I had a pretty good job offer this past month from a natural language search firm looking for computational linguists – a dream job, right up my alley – but had to turn it down, for no other reason but the horrendously lopsided employment contract. Bottom ine: this management team does not trust the people it hires. So, for the benefit of those out there who have a habit of not reading what you sign, pay heed to some of the onerous provisions you may be committing yourself to.
They did invite me to launch party, though, and between meeting famous linguists whose papers I studied in school, and watching the party crashing going on, the entire scene almost had me break out in uncontrollable lulz.