Job Hoppers

Hello Brothers,

I do not want to look like a job hopper so I was wondering,

In my first ever IT gig in my cv it shows it as 2 months because I volunteered and they had to let me go due to lack of resources etc.

after that the next one was a part time IT gig which I did for a year and a month not bad considering it was part time. The last job I left I was there for 1.8 years which is the only full time paid gig I had, now I have being in my new place for 3 months. If I leave after a 1.6 years will that look all good? On average I stay in a place for like 1.6 months if you do the maths which isnt bad?

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Comments

CompuTron99

You should be fine as long as you can explain the short time at each place.

DJohnsonRose

1.6 months? Personally if I was an employer regardless of how good you are I wouldn't touch you. In the current economic climate companies cant really afford to be recruiting people constantly, it is very long and expensive especially when you have to comb through hundreds of cv's, interview numerous people and set aside time for this.

I am assuming that an employer would look at your cv and say, he has a record of staying in a place for 1.6 months why would he stay with me any longer?

southside

DJohnsonRose wrote: »

1.6 months? Personally if I was an employer regardless of how good you are I wouldn't touch you. In the current economic climate companies cant really afford to be recruiting people constantly, it is very long and expensive especially when you have to comb through hundreds of cv's, interview numerous people and set aside time for this.

I am assuming that an employer would look at your cv and say, he has a record of staying in a place for 1.6 months why would he stay with me any longer?

Yeah you are exactly right, I thought 1.6 years was good considering how many IT people I know and they swap like every 8 months (no joke some people stay in company for 3 months and next one they are there for 2 years in their next company they hop and stay in their next one for 1 month) These were all full time jobs

RouteThisWay

I've never worked anywhere longer than 2 years. I've also never left a job for anything less than a 25% bump.

ptilsen

I like to say that two or close to two is the time to try to stay at each. One or two short stints, especially for contracts or part-time, will not hurt. A long history of sub-2-year full-time non-contract employment will look bad.

Like RouteThisWay, the longest I've ever stayed was 25 months and I've always switched for greater than 25% increases.

instant000

The truth of the matter is that it's easier to get a raise if you go work for someone else.

If the work was contract work, then that kind of explains it right there.

I'm trying to stay at my current place for two years, if only because my prior two gigs were 9 and 4 months

. But really, unless the place is promoting you, you really should move on. Five years at the same place doing the same job doesn't work for me unless it somehow satisfied me on a level beyond just the paycheck.

N2IT

I hop quite a bit so beware you better have some good excuses ready.

Like Route mentioned I (used) to jump for position 10% on up all the time. Not so much anymore I have lost my drive to make big money, never really hit it and don't really care, anyway.......

Hopping can hurt but if you really wanted to you can just say it was a short term contract and that usually takes care of any questions. You will still have people steer clear of you but that's the case if you are overweight, don't have a certain degree, not a sexy chic, etc.

I wouldn't trip out on it to much. I think it's kind of funny to be honest.

One thing that will absolutely destroy you is no call no shows or just flat out bouncing. I ALWAYS give 2 weeks up to a month before I leave. That way you are viewed as re employable. Bouncing can just flat out destroy your career especially in a small market.

southside

Yeah 1.6 years will be fine I guess,

Considering most IT people job hop after several months.

In here

I am not in IT for money, if I am then I would job hop like every several months, i am glad my record isnt under a year

Iristheangel

1.6 years is fine, 1.6 months is not fine. I would recommend to always stay at a job for a year minimum but NEVER stay past 2 years if you're not in the job title that you want to retire in and they have not provided you with a promotion, opportunities or sizable raise. What is comes down to is that if you hit the 2 year point and you're not getting ahead at a place, you're not going to. Management might come and go but, often, whatever stigma that surrounds you or your role in the company will stay. Since you're fairly new in the IT world, I would say that you should make the following rules in regards to your career: Never stay in the same job title for more than two years and never be afraid to jump ship if you get close to that mark. People who do get sucked into "comfortable" or "safe" positions end up computer janitors for life, lose motivation to succeed, or end up being the first one to be laid off years down the road when they are close to retirement/pension.

While I believe that being loyal and respectable to your manager or employer is admirable and should be done with *reasonable* restraints, remember that a faceless company often won't be loyal to you when it comes to things like budgeting or budget cuts. Meaning that if you're excellent at your job and you were hired at X lower than what market rate is 2 years later (or what market rate is for someone who gains a bunch of certifications or degrees in that two years), they might not be motivated to hire you or increase your rate of pay. After all, they have you at a bargain, so why would they?

powerfool

It is strategic to move a few jobs early in your career, however this is coming from someone that started working in IT in the lead up to the Dot-com bubble busting... everyone worked at startups and only stayed for a little while... however, I was at my first job for a year, second for three months, and then the third for nine months. After that, all jobs were scarce. Things picked up in 2003 and stayed at my jobs for 2.75, 1.6, 2.7, and 2.9 (so far) years. At this point, so long as I don't get let go due to the current economy, I am relying on recruiters to find me because when they are the ones initiating, you can make the bigger jumps.

I am in it for the money... it just so happens that I like the work, too. You don't have to hop every few months. Since 2003, I have had 3 years where I only had single digit percentage increases in my salary... You have to show your value, period. Now, some of the years where I had a good bump were years where my raise was low and I subsequently found another job that gave me a huge increase. However, I have had a few years where I have had significant increases from my current employer (on par with what I would expect from moving jobs).

Mrock4

Some may disagree with the following statement, and that's OK, it's just my opinion:

That being said, the days of working somewhere for 10-20 years and working your way up the corporate ladder are mostly gone. An employee- ESPECIALLY in IT must be agile with regards to their career. I'm not advocating 'job hopping' as in leaving after a few months, BUT rather I'm advocating *not* staying somewhere that lacks career growth. What I'm saying is, it's OK to move jobs, for the right reasons. Just don't make a habit of it.

I have personally left a job after 12 months, and I'm on great terms with that company still (having lunch with a member of their senior management team next week, on a 'friend' basis), and my current company completely understood my reasons for leaving.

Also, for whatever it's worth, I like iris's recommendation to not stay somewhere longer than 2 years if you're not in the job you want to be in. 6 month's is enough to make a name for yourself in a company, One year you're the expert there. 18 months to 2 years you are in a holding pattern wasting your time.

kurosaki00

I agree with what Mrock said.
Usually that kind of mentality of working in one place for 10 years is only a given at bit more high positions nowadays.
Places like help desk, support, call center, etc are actually the completely opposite today. What you get is employers hiring a lot of people for few hours or just not handing full benefits positions much. This saves them money, they drain the "young" (usually) talent, people with low experience they pay you a lot less for what you do since you have no experience. If you leave another one takes your place.
Expendable.

I think as long as you have an honest good reason, no one should say anything because you've jumped 2-3 jobs in a short period.

southside

Iristheangel wrote: »

1.6 years is fine, 1.6 months is not fine. I would recommend to always stay at a job for a year minimum but NEVER stay past 2 years if you're not in the job title that you want to retire in and they have not provided you with a promotion, opportunities or sizable raise. What is comes down to is that if you hit the 2 year point and you're not getting ahead at a place, you're not going to. Management might come and go but, often, whatever stigma that surrounds you or your role in the company will stay. Since you're fairly new in the IT world, I would say that you should make the following rules in regards to your career: Never stay in the same job title for more than two years and never be afraid to jump ship if you get close to that mark. People who do get sucked into "comfortable" or "safe" positions end up computer janitors for life, lose motivation to succeed, or end up being the first one to be laid off years down the road when they are close to retirement/pension.

While I believe that being loyal and respectable to your manager or employer is admirable and should be done with *reasonable* restraints, remember that a faceless company often won't be loyal to you when it comes to things like budgeting or budget cuts. Meaning that if you're excellent at your job and you were hired at X lower than what market rate is 2 years later (or what market rate is for someone who gains a bunch of certifications or degrees in that two years), they might not be motivated to hire you or increase your rate of pay. After all, they have you at a bargain, so why would they?

Im not fairly new to the IT world, I have being in the industry for a little over 3 years and in a intermediate consultant role.

onesaint

This speaks to your question in a round about way, but is more just food for thought.

So, from a financial perspective I offer two examples. I know a Sr. Sys Engineer who jumps every year for 5-10% gains. He clocks around 115K and is well cert'ed. He's been in IT for roughly 15 years. On the other side, I've been in IT for 9 years and generally stick with a company for 3 years, I make roughly 2/3rds of his salary. My gains have been 15-20% per move. In order to hit 115K after being in IT for 15 years, I'll either have to make a 7% gain per year for the next 6 years or hop positions twice with 23% gains.

Now, that being said my current company gives 4 weeks vacation, pays 6K for undergrad and 12K for graduate tuition - annually, freely allows telecommute / personal time, pays 5K a year in IT training not to mention free management / professional training, sends me to IT conventions, covers extra things like cell phone / Safari books online / etc., has a retirement plan, 401K matching, contributes 1.5-3K to an HSA, is a fortune 100, etc. In my interview I was impressed with the fact that the majority of people I spoke to had been with the company for 10+ years. To me, these types of perks need be taking into consideration when considering salary and job hopping. As they say, money isn't everything.

southside

Yeah brother I hear you, I want to stick in my company as for long as I can and hopefully within the next 2 years I could get a job in the current place or else where as a Technical Lead or a Solutions architect and get like 70k to 80K or even more as a permanant employee because when you work as a contractor and get paid hourly yes it could add up to 100k but most of the time it is not that because you do not get paid when you are sick or when the company closes down for christmas or if you go away for a holiday.

onesaint wrote: »

This speaks to your question in a round about way, but is more just food for thought.

So, from a financial perspective I offer two examples. I know a Sr. Sys Engineer who jumps every year for 5-10% gains. He clocks around 115K and is well cert'ed. He's been in IT for roughly 15 years. On the other side, I've been in IT for 9 years and generally stick with a company for 3 years, I make roughly 2/3rds of his salary. My gains have been 15-20% per move. In order to hit 115K after being in IT for 15 years, I'll either have to make a 7% gain per year for the next 6 years or hop positions twice with 23% gains.

Now, that being said my current company gives 4 weeks vacation, pays 6K for undergrad and 12K for graduate tuition - annually, freely allows telecommute / personal time, pays 5K a year in IT training not to mention free management / professional training, sends me to IT conventions, covers extra things like cell phone / Safari books online / etc., has a retirement plan, 401K matching, contributes 1.5-3K to an HSA, is a fortune 100, etc. In my interview I was impressed with the fact that the majority of people I spoke to had been with the company for 10+ years. To me, these types of perks need be taking into consideration when considering salary and job hopping. As they say, money isn't everything.