Follow the money

[mikester]

I've been struggling to stay at my current company for a good stint - it'll be 3 years soon and I think that's long enough. My 10 year history between jobs is 3+/2/~1/1+/~3 - the two that were around a year sucked, they were bad choices basically. This job I am at now - when I took it was far and away the best job I've ever had but in late 2008 a massive layoff and the resulting outsourcing adventures have turned it into the worst. I am simply waiting for some benefits to vest and to meet some personal/professional goals that will sweeten things up for me.

When I took this job they gave me the hairy eye ball over the recent job hopping so...I want my resume to look better than that.

[mikester]

Oh, and I've learned over the years that I have been where I am that nobody gets promoted - ever.

I was promised promotion within 6 months. Never got it...of course...

[strupgolf]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

That's what my boss told me today, follow the money. We were discussing my current job situation, which would require the company to nearly double my salary to be comensurate with my position. He also stated that the days of staying with one company for an entire career are gone. Basically my boss told me that if I wanted to be treated fairly, I need to find a new job.

Rather depressing, isn't it? Coming out of college I always had the rather naive notion that if I excelled at my job, I would be rewarded. Is this concept a victim of our modern society, or do such places still exist?

I'm confused. Your current job situation; why would the company need to double your salary for the job you're doing now? Have you done twice the work, worked twice the hours, twice the ?. What makes your job DOUBLE the salary that you're now getting? If you're worth it, find a company willing to pay what you think you are worth. Am I missing something here?

[djmcmath]

Nostatic - watch out. I'm on the other side of that coin right now, sort of. The money is great (not yachts and new Mercedes great, but still quite good), but the people giving orders here are scary. We've been going to increasing effort to stifle innovation, disable efforts to design software for future builds, and make the project fail. It's terrifying.

One of my coworkers has made a chart of income vs job satisfaction and has found a nearly perfect inverse relationship. Funny, that.

So if you enjoy what you do, and can make do with the money ... Consider staying put.

Just my $.02.

Dan

[masraum]

Originally Posted by 968rz

I read somewhere (cnn, newsweek?) that those who move around to other employers do make more than those who stay put, makes you wonder why.

I tend to move from time to time. I'd be happy to stay someplace if the money held, but so far that's not been the case. That might be the case for a bit at my current job. We'll see.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by djmcmath

Hmm.

I did 9 years in the Navy, and the last couple of years were shorter tours. Now I've got two years doing two different things in one small group for a company, and am looking at a position in another group within the same company. So my employment record could be "Navy and this company." But it's a lot of different jobs inside those two.

How does that play out among people reading resumes?

Thanks,
Dan

That shows that you've been at 2 jobs. Different positions inside the same company don't count as different jobs. Different positions at the same company show that you're versatile and have a broad range of experience. Some companies like to move folks around often, some don't.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by nostatic

< stuff snipped for brevity >

Could be worse I suppose, and I do get along great with my boss and his boss, am valued in the organization, and love my work...but frustrating to watch guys with no creativity or problem solving skills engage in borderline criminal behavior and be driving Mercedes and buying new yachts. Oh well, welcome to America...

When I started in Network Engineering in 1999, I worked for a company that worked for Cisco Systems. We provided telephone support for folks with Cisco hardware. Most of us were making $40k-50k a year, and were helping folks that were making $60-120k a year. Often times, the folks that called us were relatively clueless and we would access their equipment remotely to set it up or fix their problems. That used to kill us. Especially when we started looking for work and a prospective employer would say "but you don't have hands-on exp."

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by djmcmath

Hmm.

I did 9 years in the Navy, and the last couple of years were shorter tours. Now I've got two years doing two different things in one small group for a company, and am looking at a position in another group within the same company. So my employment record could be "Navy and this company." But it's a lot of different jobs inside those two.

How does that play out among people reading resumes?

Thanks,
Dan

As long as they don't look like demotions, less responsibility, then it plays very well.

[RKC]

Nostatic, this is what we must remember to seek.....


"At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal, Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its whole history.

Heller responds, "Yes, but I have something he will never have.....enough."

- From John Bogle, Founder of Vanguard -

[jyl]

My "years in jobs" history looks like: school, 2, 11, back to school, 7, 0.5, 4 and counting. The 11 stint was worth it. The 7 stint was not.

[Tishabet]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

As long as they don't look like demotions, less responsibility, then it plays very well.

Big +1 to that.

[dad911]

I've been self-employed for 25 years.... time to jump ship?

[911Freak]

Originally Posted by djmcmath

I'll resurrect this thread with a question: how often can you jump without causing problems?

Thanks,
Dan

I was told by several hiring managers, HR directors (also a close friend) and backed up through my own experience that currently in this economy anymore then 3 jobs in 7 years is a red flag...

YMMV

Cheers,
Jason

[djmcmath]

The WSJ this morning had an interesting piece on the hiring practices at tech firms. "Specifically, the probe is looking into whether the companies' hiring practices are costing skilled computer engineers and other workers opportunities to change jobs for higher pay or better benefits."

U.S. Steps Up Probe of Tech Hiring - WSJ.com



The other interesting thing to me was the note on actual salaries. "Skilled computer scientists with some management responsibilities, for instance, often make base salaries of $180,000 to $210,000."

Is that really true? Are they talking about senior software architects with 30 years in the industry, or is this what general IT Management types make? Something just doesn't seem right about the numbers.

Thanks,
Dan

[Captain Ahab Jr]

I try and change jobs every 5yrs and am now working at my fourth company since starting work.

Main reasons for moving has been for a new challenge, seems to work for me as I have worked on some very interesting projects and have broader experience than if I had not moved.

Don't follow the money, follow what interests you, makes work a lot more fun if you do.