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> This is a self inflicted problem across all companies. As long as companies are not willing to pay the market salary, people will move elsewhere. Why do you

> This is a self inflicted problem across all companies. As long as companies are not willing to pay the market salary, people will move elsewhere. Why do you say this? Surely underpaying people is one way to make them leave but not the only reason. Some people think “the grass is always greener” elsewhere. Others don’t last long because they are not easy to work with. Others are not great employees and so are encouraged to move along sooner rather than later. Lots of possible reasons. Most do not signal the type of person I want to hire.

bb88 8y ago
> Why do you say this? I say it because I keep seeing articles like this one [1] all the time: "Workers who stay with a company longer than two years are said to get paid 50% less." And that matches my personal experience. After spending 14 years at a company giving me 3 percent raises year after year, I've switched jobs frequently, but usually with large pay raises with every job. 8 years out and 4 jobs later now I'm making double the salary I was at the long term job I held. > Some people think “the grass is always greener” elsewhere. Others don’t last long because they are not easy to work with. Others are not great employees and so are encouraged to move along sooner rather than later. Lots of possible reasons. Most do not signal the type of person I want to hire. Sure, much of what you say is true. I think it may have been valid maybe 20 years ago. Lately, though, I think people want to stay relevant in a field with so much churn it makes your head spin. So they see the leading edge of where tech is going, and want to get there first. And if a company has tagged someone as the "Java engineer", it can be hard for that person if they want to switch to ruby on rails, or they want to expand into machine learning but their company doesn't need the skill (or they already have experts doing that work.) As for me, I've learned to let a technology get established before jumping into it, but even at that rate, the tech I learned 5 years ago, is not relevant today. In college, what I learned lasted maybe 15 years. (Yeah, I'm old). So yeah, my resume would surely hit your circular file. But I'm in good company I suppose. The mean job length at google is only 1.1 years even though 84% of people are highly satisfied. [2] Compare this with Eastman Kodak where the median is 20 years, and only 45% of the employees are highly satisfied. [1] https://www.fastcompany.com/3055035/you-should-plan-on-switching-jobs-every-three-years-for-the-rest-of-your- https://www.fastcompany.com/3055035/you-should-plan-on-switc... [2] https://www.payscale.com/data-packages/employee-loyalty/full-list https://www.payscale.com/data-packages/employee-loyalty/full...
- matt_the_bass 8y ago
  Thank you for your follow up. 5 jobs in 22 years doesn’t seem that extreme to me, especially if you had a legit story to go along with it. Do you think the company you work for now only wants you for 1.1 years? Out of curiousity, in what region do you live?
  - bb88 8y ago
    I'm in the Pacific Northwestish area. I'm a consultant these days, so yeah 1.1 years is actually a long time.
    - cimmanom 8y ago
      As a consultant, I suggest not putting each job on your resume as a separate gig. List "2012-present Software Engineering Consultant" and then bullet out your most important projects and achievements under that.

bb88 8y ago

> Why do you say this? I say it because I keep seeing articles like this one [1] all the time: "Workers who stay with a company longer than two years are said to get paid 50% less." And that matches my personal experience. After spending 14 years at a company giving me 3 percent raises year after year, I've switched jobs frequently, but usually with large pay raises with every job. 8 years out and 4 jobs later now I'm making double the salary I was at the long term job I held. > Some people think “the grass is always greener” elsewhere. Others don’t last long because they are not easy to work with. Others are not great employees and so are encouraged to move along sooner rather than later. Lots of possible reasons. Most do not signal the type of person I want to hire. Sure, much of what you say is true. I think it may have been valid maybe 20 years ago. Lately, though, I think people want to stay relevant in a field with so much churn it makes your head spin. So they see the leading edge of where tech is going, and want to get there first. And if a company has tagged someone as the "Java engineer", it can be hard for that person if they want to switch to ruby on rails, or they want to expand into machine learning but their company doesn't need the skill (or they already have experts doing that work.) As for me, I've learned to let a technology get established before jumping into it, but even at that rate, the tech I learned 5 years ago, is not relevant today. In college, what I learned lasted maybe 15 years. (Yeah, I'm old). So yeah, my resume would surely hit your circular file. But I'm in good company I suppose. The mean job length at google is only 1.1 years even though 84% of people are highly satisfied. [2] Compare this with Eastman Kodak where the median is 20 years, and only 45% of the employees are highly satisfied. [1] https://www.fastcompany.com/3055035/you-should-plan-on-switching-jobs-every-three-years-for-the-rest-of-your- https://www.fastcompany.com/3055035/you-should-plan-on-switc... [2] https://www.payscale.com/data-packages/employee-loyalty/full-list https://www.payscale.com/data-packages/employee-loyalty/full...

matt_the_bass 8y ago
Thank you for your follow up. 5 jobs in 22 years doesn’t seem that extreme to me, especially if you had a legit story to go along with it. Do you think the company you work for now only wants you for 1.1 years? Out of curiousity, in what region do you live?
- bb88 8y ago
  I'm in the Pacific Northwestish area. I'm a consultant these days, so yeah 1.1 years is actually a long time.
  - cimmanom 8y ago
    As a consultant, I suggest not putting each job on your resume as a separate gig. List "2012-present Software Engineering Consultant" and then bullet out your most important projects and achievements under that.