Had an in-law working at a California tech company. The company had a retirement plan - not a bad one on paper. But you didn't vest until age 50. Outside the C suite, nobody worked past 49 and change. He was offered several attractive buyouts, but all came with nasty noncompetes. He sat it out (had other irons in the fire) and waited until he was laid off (couldn't require a noncompete in that case) about a month before his 50th. Moved Back East and got a better job, sold the house in San Jose and paid cash for a bigger place 1/2 hour from work (instead of an hour on city streets because the freeways were parking lots), and invested his cashout from the retirement plan in a good IRA. It worked out. Best to know it's coming, though, and make arrangements.

Yes, noncompetes are illegal in California. But they aren't in most other states, and the company was well known for suing former employees. At the time, you couldn't claim age discrimination unless you were over 50, and he had a better deal lined up anyway so why fight it.