>In finance though, don’t people usually get a cushy 6 month paid “gardening leave” when they switch?
Getting paid your salary for a couple of months (three is more common than six, in my experience) when most of your earnings might typically be in bonuses is less cushy than you might think.
At least in NYC - the non-competes that I know of are for way longer than a couple months. Most of the guys I know with non-competes are at least six months with many being a year or two... They're not getting paid peanuts either. They're still getting very good paychecks.
Getting paid your salary for a couple of months (three is more common than six, in my experience) when most of your earnings might typically be in bonuses is less cushy than you might think.