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Is 10x 20% jumps actually remotely reasonable? After you've swapped enough times it starts to look worrisome on resumes since people see no single role for more

Is 10x 20% jumps actually remotely reasonable? After you've swapped enough times it starts to look worrisome on resumes since people see no single role for more than 2 years. And the most effective jumps are when you also get title increases, but that stops working quite quickly and companies tend to prefer promoting to leadership positions rather than external hires leveling up. 1.2^10 is also a 620% pay increase. From my starting comp this would put me at like 1.5M, which is an extremely unusual pay level.

tomrod 4y ago
Not very many people start with a 250k starting comp. Typically about 1/5th to 1/3rd of that.
- UncleMeat 4y ago
  But this is a critical observation. The thing that increases pay is not switching jobs, but working at companies that pay in different tiers.
  - tomrod 4y ago
    I didn't gather that from your first comment, only that you didn't believe the distribution could increase by 620%. Which, when you start in the top ~7% of individual income in the US, is probably true for income (wealth as a whole is another matter).[0] [0] https://www.investopedia.com/personal-finance/how-much-income-puts-you-top-1-5-10/ https://www.investopedia.com/personal-finance/how-much-incom...
    - UncleMeat 4y ago
      The key thing I'm trying to get across here is that it isn't the hopping that brings this sort of increase, it is simply working at one of the very high paying companies in a high paying region. Zero hops, one hop, and seven hops can all get you there. Telling people to focus on the seven hops is misleading, IMO.
headsoup 4y ago
I think it depends on market conditions. If we do see a recession/depression over the next few years I'm curious to see how many of these "you're leaving money on the table" threads keep popping up on HN...
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  Well, that is obvious. But after the downturn, it remains to be seen if there will be yet another boom period that resembles the past decade for tech, or the dot-com bubble before it. Software is here to stay, and it will take more transformations to bring down the demand for software engineers.
whateveracct 4y ago
There's diminishing returns for sure. My experience is it was way worth it at the start of my career, so by now I've brought my compensation "anchor" up with those bumps. Now I prioritize other things.

tomrod 4y ago

Not very many people start with a 250k starting comp. Typically about 1/5th to 1/3rd of that.

UncleMeat 4y ago
But this is a critical observation. The thing that increases pay is not switching jobs, but working at companies that pay in different tiers.
- tomrod 4y ago
  I didn't gather that from your first comment, only that you didn't believe the distribution could increase by 620%. Which, when you start in the top ~7% of individual income in the US, is probably true for income (wealth as a whole is another matter).[0] [0] https://www.investopedia.com/personal-finance/how-much-income-puts-you-top-1-5-10/ https://www.investopedia.com/personal-finance/how-much-incom...
  - UncleMeat 4y ago
    The key thing I'm trying to get across here is that it isn't the hopping that brings this sort of increase, it is simply working at one of the very high paying companies in a high paying region. Zero hops, one hop, and seven hops can all get you there. Telling people to focus on the seven hops is misleading, IMO.

headsoup 4y ago

I think it depends on market conditions. If we do see a recession/depression over the next few years I'm curious to see how many of these "you're leaving money on the table" threads keep popping up on HN...

Apocryphon 4y ago
Well, that is obvious. But after the downturn, it remains to be seen if there will be yet another boom period that resembles the past decade for tech, or the dot-com bubble before it. Software is here to stay, and it will take more transformations to bring down the demand for software engineers.

whateveracct 4y ago

There's diminishing returns for sure. My experience is it was way worth it at the start of my career, so by now I've brought my compensation "anchor" up with those bumps. Now I prioritize other things.