Transitioning from prop trading firm to Citadel?

I know a guy who worked at a quant shop and remembered the code (he had written a lot of it). He left after five years and started a fund with it.

Disjoint SoftwareDeveloper:

I work as a C++ front office software developer for a prop trading firm. Been working there for 3 years (total 7 years of software exp). I have heard a lot about Citadel and wondering if it would be a good fit for me. One thing I'm wondering about is that I signed a non-compete form when I started here. Will I even be able to work at another place such as Citadel (maybe something not directly related to trading perhaps)? I'm wondering how other people deal with the non-compete clauses at these firms. Would Citadel be a good place for someone with front office C++ experience? What would the average salary/bonus be for someone at my experience level there?

All banks have non-compete clauses, basically you are not allowed to grab all your lines of code with you when you leave. BUT you can re-create them when you start in a new company, but it has to be from scratch.
Given they are probably quite IT heavy already at your company :) I probably wouldn't chance copy pasting some stuff and putting them on your personal USB drive...

Non-compete is very standard, usually you have a sort of gardening leave, and it should specify in your contract how long you have to wait before you start in another job. During that time they usually have to pay you.

It is against the law for an employer to not allow you to go and get employment elsewhere, and the strict form of non-competition you are thinking of is unheard off as illegal. HOWEVER, there are some non-compete that are non-standard and borderline illegal, but not quite. If you work for a small company I would just get a lawyer to look over your employment contract and he will be able to tell you. It will cost you 200-300 USD for an hour of his time. But well worth it.

On Citadel - I think it's an amazing shop, where you can get some invaluable experience. I work on the sell side, and at my old BB we would come across them all the time. You are quite young in the business 3 years, so I wouldn't worry too much about bonuses etc... yet. If you do figure out some massive arb program that brings your company money, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to ask for extra comps. However this is something you can discuss at the later stage of the interview process.

So the non-compete is more about just not taking code and other things with me to the new office? I guess I'll have to double check the contract I am under. Otherwise, it sounds like I don't need to worry about it.

I know that 3 years in the field is not a whole lot of time. Will it matter to them if I have 7 years total software experience or will they only care about the experience at the firm I'm working at? What are the bonus structures usually like there? 20% of base salary each year?