Unfortunately (as of right now), there are no large companies that are using the projects I contribute to (there are some great indie devs who are though!)
That's actually quite encouraging, so thank you. I've been trying to find a balance between working on OSS contributions + getting better at "CS fundamentals" (I'm a self-taught programmer, so a bit lacking on the algs/data structures side of things). Which is definitely a disadvantage during an interview, and part of the reason I'm hoping to emphasize my OSS contributions more.
That makes sense. So far, most of the recent interviews I've had have asked me about my work experience, and none of my open-source work, even though that work is on my CV.
This particular document doubles as both an NDA and a non-compete. I did some research, and it looks as if my particular state does allow for non-compete agreements to exist.
Yes, I recognize it's quite common to sign a non-compete, my question was specifically about whether it was common to include vendors in the agreement.
I would say that the reason I'm passionate about HCI is that I want to work toward better ways for people to interact with the digital tools they use. If I can research, design, or implement something that makes the "digital experience" better, I would be happy.