Working for same company for an extended period of time?

From what I have read it is best to change jobs every 1-2 years during the beginning of your career. But what do people typically do once they get to somewhere they want to be? For example once you get to your desired position and a six figure salary do you slow things down and stay with the company or do you continue changing jobs?

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mikey88

It's been shown that changing jobs frequently (every 1-2yrs) is the fastest way to progress salary wise. However, there is nothing wrong with staying with the same company for a long time... as long as you are getting promoted and take on more responsibilities.

I've had jobs for 3+ years and had jobs for only 6 months. At the end, you have to decide what's best for you and look out for your own interest.

LeBroke

Generally, the higher up you go, the longer you're expected to stay.

Helpdesk techs are generally pretty plug and play. One leaves, hire another one, and they're good to go after a few weeks of training.

A mid-level sysadmin might have a lot of localized or tribal knowledge that's a pain to replace, but at the end of the day, he's still pushing buttons to deploy standard tools. A major differentiator between a new hire vs. a company veteran is that the latter knows where everything is deployed and what the major issues are in his specific environment.

On the other hand, it takes years for an architect or a director to make an impact, start driving change, and implement a project from design phase to full implementation. 6 months for an architect only makes sense if he's brought in as a contractor for a very specific project. Otherwise, it takes 6 months to a year just to ramp someone up to learn all the ins and outs of their environment before they can start improving on things.

Hence, a potential employer might be a lot more anxious to hire someone that's shown to job hop similar level senior jobs, as opposed to someone going up the career ladder from lower to mid-level.

Jon_Cisco

Your personal goals are really going to be important with this question.

joelsfood

I've been at the same company for ten years and am just now moving on. Staying at one place has allowed me to fully design and architect the complete footprint at three datacenters (four if you count the new dc that we're moving into and which I've designed, but likely won't get to do more than just initial setup before I leave), it has allowed me to dedicate time to getting my CCIE and a Master's degree, it has let me develop peer relationships within the IT community that I will have for years to come, it has let me give back to the IT community via blogging, working as a SME for certification tests from two companies, etc. I certainly could have moved my salary up faster by job hopping over the last ten years, but I'd also have missed out on a lot of things that were accessible due to having some stability in my situation. That same stability was also helpful while getting married and starting a family.There's a lot more to life and career growth than just the numbers on your paycheck.

cyberguypr

I’ve been lucky to work for companies where internal growth was possible, so it made no sense for me to leave. My last 4 jobs were:
- 7 years
- 5 years
- 3 years
- 4 years

As said above, if you leave too soon you will most likely not be able to drive change and implement important projects. At some point your reputation and longevity in the company will be invaluable assets. Hard to establish that in just a year or two.

It’s important to understand that there’s no universal answer for this. Analyze your situation, see what makes sense, and plan accordingly.

no!all!

I'm 7 years in my IT career and I've been at the same company for 6 of those. I can't believe it's been 6 years but I'm honestly only here because of the money - they pay me very well. I've been stuck in desktop support for 6 years and have dabbled with the networking team on setting up new switches/routers. Been trying to get on the network team full time but that'll never happen. I'm saving up to move out of state anyway so we'll see how that pans out!

networker050184

I hopped around a bit early to move up the ranks and the salary chart, but I've settled down a bit lately. The more senior level positions you're working on year long or multiyear projects. Staying long term is more expected than it is for the junior folks. Getting antsy though I must admit!

gespenstern

It gets very boring for me to work for >2 years for a non-MSSP type of company.

Yet, I do that for money. In order not to die from the boredom I have to invent interesting projects for myself the results of which are swept under the rug by the company anyway and spend time advancing my certs which has also become quite boring lately... But life itself is rather boring and mundane anyway, so I don't complain much. When everything sucks what's the point in singling out one thing that also sucks. Ultimately even fast-paced MSSP gigs also suck in their own way. I guess I'm just too old for this and think too much about eternity.

DatabaseHead

It depends on your objective like others have mentioned. I read a "careerist" book years ago written by the former VP of HR for Oracle. They said in IT if you haven't been promoted in the first 3 years of employment N% (I forget the number but it was very small) go on to higher paying roles.

Ultimately they said after 18 months set expectations with your direct boss you don't want to be in this role forever. After 2 years apply internally. If 6 months go by then start to apply externally.

My objectives have changed for the meantime. I am looking to stabilize for ~2 more years and then once my oldest is in college the wife and I will transition somewhere else and then I'll strike. The point..... Depends on your objectives.

Ashenwelt

Ask yourself these questions about your current company p:

1. Can this company add to my resume?
2. Can this company give me something to drive to?
3. Am I happy here?
4. What is my next pinnical?
5. If I didn't work here, what would I be doing?

Those sound off... But answer them and then you will know better in your heart when or if you should leave. Personally I have been at the same place for 9 years. But... I am a consultant. That makes some of those answers odd.

NavyMooseCCNA

DatabaseHead wrote: »

It depends on your objective like others have mentioned. I read a "careerist" book years ago written by the former VP of HR for Oracle. They said in IT if you haven't been promoted in the first 3 years of employment N% (I forget the number but it was very small) go on to higher paying roles.

Promotion? What is that? I've never seen that in my time in IT. Maybe if I worked in environments that had more layers I would have seen it. Most places I've worked in, it was two layers (managers and tech).

TLeTourneau

I tend to stay a while, 11 years at one and 7+ at my current employer however each had (has) career advancement opportunities. At my current employer I started as an IT Systems Engineer, advanced to Senior IT Systems Engineer at the 4 year mark (it was harder to advance on a 2nd shift team), transitioned to a new team on day shifts and advanced to Lead IT Systems Engineer a while ago. I also do consulting on the side focusing on security and IP PBX's.

Ashenwelt

NavyMooseCCNA wrote: »

Promotion? What is that? I've never seen that in my time in IT. Maybe if I worked in environments that had more layers I would have seen it. Most places I've worked in, it was two layers (managers and tech).

That isn't good. Where I have worked goes more like this.

1. Technician
2. Technician 2
3. Field Engineer
3. Systems Administrator
4. Technical Account Engineer
4. Systems Engineer
4. Project Manager
5. Sr. Systems Engineer
6. Solutions Architect
6. Systems Architect
7. Director (may be hands on)

So... that's about the direction I would expect to see most places. Banks can get weird, some making people VP when at level 5 or 6. I have promoted people and would expect the same (and have experienced it). I have gone through 5-7 at this company.

jwdk19

It varies from organization to organization in my experience. Some places I've worked at had 2 tiers and some have had 5.

jcundiff

Been in IT/ InfoSec for 20+ years now, across two companies... 11.75 years at the first before being RIF'd, 8 at the current employer, multiple roles across both. Started as a $10 an hour help desk guy in 1998, and hit 6 figures in 2016. So you don't have to hop every 2-3 years to make the money, just got to be with a company with growth potential and opportunities.