Skills are not secret but special recipes are

Possibly, it must be involved in underground activities bothering in treason and subversion. If so then our colleague ought to be very careful and... seek legal guidance instead  more

Unless you are dealing with trade secrets or highly ratified intellectual property, courts have generally ruled NDAs to be unenforceable. Sign it... and forget it.
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Skills are typically not bound to NDAs unless the are specific enough to unveil a product or other company secret that the NDA is meant to protect.... For instance, in a company that works in motion graphics, maybe you learned how to make templates in After Effects to make you more efficient in repeating cohesive motion or keeping color schemes intact across packages.But maybe don't write on your resume on how you figured out a template for making neon comets for an unreleased GFX package about neon objects from a company called Neon Everything. more

Honestly I would not worry about it and use your skills. They will not follow you unless you are on the news making millions off there idea.

Part of the secret for sure. Ha ha ha I would not pay any attention I ran clothing business and work for a company that sold clothes and signed. You... can’t tell me what are my ideas. Ha ha ha  more

NDA or non disclosure agreements are pretty standard in business when you are involved with proprietary information or processes. Otherwise companies... would worry about a new employee joining them to learn that info and then use it to compete with them.
If your intentions are honest, these agreements should not bother you. In higher positions, people have to sign Non Compete Agreements that may prohibit working for a competitor for 3 years. more

Like Kat said, it is a common practice for companies to want to keep certain information propriety. It's like restaurants or food companies not... wanting to share their "secret" recipes to prevent competition. They typically do not prevent you from using skills or general knowledge gained at a company. You can also think about it like plagiarism. You learn you how write essays or research papers, but schools do not want you to just copy and paste the work of others. I also encourage you to read it thoroughly and understand what limitations are being placed on you. Non-compete clause especially can be hairy as they may attempt to limit your ability leave and go work for a competitor or open your own business doing the same job. Usually there is a distance associated and/or a time limit. These are more an attempt to prevent employees from leaving and taking clients away from a business. The ability to enforce them is also different depending on the State or Country that you are in. more

That can happen. Theres no major issue. You are not disclosing any skills to anybody, you are just using them forever.....so no issue. Relax

Lol

This sounds like either Propriety Information or Non-Compete clause related. If it were me I would make sure to receive a copy in writing. Also be... sure to read *exactly* what is to be kept confidential before deciding whether or not you can or even want to abide by it. Ask questions about anything that is not clear. Either of these named scenarios can be common depending on the industry. If you feel that what they are asking you to keep confidential could hinder your career advancement in some way then it's likely not worth it. I have not experienced any hinderance from Propriety or Non-Competes and I have signed more than 10 of them over my 35 year career as a software engineer. I am in the USA. more

Which company is this, or it is also part of the secret?