5 ms·

I know someone who has followed a career path of frequent job changes (always in the same metropolitan area, mine, the Twin Cities of Minnesota) in computer-rel

I know someone who has followed a career path of frequent job changes (always in the same metropolitan area, mine, the Twin Cities of Minnesota) in computer-related work and who has always managed to make each job change a net raise. He is making substantially more money now than many of his contemporaries who stayed at the same company for years, and has leaped over some of those persons for more responsible roles with more challenge (what you desire) and a better pay-and-lifestyle balance than other people with similar technical skills in the same company have. In other words, it depends. If you make sure to trade up every time you trade, you have set up a ratchet that should make your career better over time.

beat 11y ago
The Twin Cities is an interesting environment for that. It's so enterprise-heavy here (imho we're as much a tech city as Silicon Valley, just in a different expression), there are lots of people who stick to the same company for 10, 20 years or more. As someone who has job-hopped a lot in this environment, the worst thing about it is tech environments where the leadership doesn't keep up with trends even on an awareness level. They just stick with the legacy stack they've been supporting for years, which can be incredibly wasteful and limiting. Their software is bad, but it's all they've known for so long that they have no clue how much better things can be. And then the contractors and other floaters they bring through are appalled, frustrated, and often flip quickly to the next job in hopes of less "maturity". Sigh.
- PopeOfNope 11y ago
  Mind if I ask which expression? I liked the twin cities the one time I visited, but I've never heard of it described as a tech city.
  - beat 11y ago
    Enterprise. There are more Fortune 500 headquarters in the Twin Cities per capita than anywhere else in the world - more than New York, more than the Bay area, more than London or Tokyo. Working in IT in the Twin Cities generally means working for the likes of Target, United Healthcare, Best Buy, 3M, Carlson Wagonlit, Monsanto, and other tremendously huge companies. Last fall, I was in Silicon Valley at an enterprise meetup, and was talking to people there about a sense of scale. I observed that if you saw a startup generating $50M in revenue, you'd think they were very successful. I've worked on three different projects larger than that (some private, some government), and they were just side businesses to bigger enterprises.
kfcm 11y ago
I agree with this statement. I lived in the Twin Cities for a decade and worked for four (4) different companies--the last three of which recruited me away from my then-current position. As another responder said, the Twin Cities is very tech centric. While there are quite a few enterprise jobs, there are plenty of opportunities across the corporate-size spectrum--from startups (a large startup community exists there) to global Fortune 50 companies. It truly is analogous to Silicon Valley.
loganu 11y ago
Not a programmer, but I've done this as well. Averaging a job change about every 14 months (always leaving on good terms after another company or recruiter has reached out to me). It's given me a wide range of experience, let me try a few different industries out, and I've upped my salary a little under 50% in 5 years. I've been at my current job 2 years. Things have slowed down a lot in Alberta, so new offers and opportunities are very hard to find. But I've made myself useful to a handful of companies, and don't anticipate any shortages in work (during a period when many are getting laid off and taking paycuts). When things pick back up, I've got a verbal offer on a position which should bring me another hefty raise. My advice: Switch whenever an opportunity comes up that offers better work or pay. Employers are generally reluctant to hand out a 10-20% raise, but they will easily pay that money to someone new coming in to fill a hole in their organization. It can be difficult to explain coming-and-going in interviews, but if you have a solid line of references and some okay answers, their need to hire is often stronger than their desire to see what's wrong with you.

beat 11y ago

The Twin Cities is an interesting environment for that. It's so enterprise-heavy here (imho we're as much a tech city as Silicon Valley, just in a different expression), there are lots of people who stick to the same company for 10, 20 years or more. As someone who has job-hopped a lot in this environment, the worst thing about it is tech environments where the leadership doesn't keep up with trends even on an awareness level. They just stick with the legacy stack they've been supporting for years, which can be incredibly wasteful and limiting. Their software is bad, but it's all they've known for so long that they have no clue how much better things can be. And then the contractors and other floaters they bring through are appalled, frustrated, and often flip quickly to the next job in hopes of less "maturity". Sigh.

PopeOfNope 11y ago
Mind if I ask which expression? I liked the twin cities the one time I visited, but I've never heard of it described as a tech city.
- beat 11y ago
  Enterprise. There are more Fortune 500 headquarters in the Twin Cities per capita than anywhere else in the world - more than New York, more than the Bay area, more than London or Tokyo. Working in IT in the Twin Cities generally means working for the likes of Target, United Healthcare, Best Buy, 3M, Carlson Wagonlit, Monsanto, and other tremendously huge companies. Last fall, I was in Silicon Valley at an enterprise meetup, and was talking to people there about a sense of scale. I observed that if you saw a startup generating $50M in revenue, you'd think they were very successful. I've worked on three different projects larger than that (some private, some government), and they were just side businesses to bigger enterprises.

kfcm 11y ago

I agree with this statement. I lived in the Twin Cities for a decade and worked for four (4) different companies--the last three of which recruited me away from my then-current position. As another responder said, the Twin Cities is very tech centric. While there are quite a few enterprise jobs, there are plenty of opportunities across the corporate-size spectrum--from startups (a large startup community exists there) to global Fortune 50 companies. It truly is analogous to Silicon Valley.

loganu 11y ago

Not a programmer, but I've done this as well. Averaging a job change about every 14 months (always leaving on good terms after another company or recruiter has reached out to me). It's given me a wide range of experience, let me try a few different industries out, and I've upped my salary a little under 50% in 5 years. I've been at my current job 2 years. Things have slowed down a lot in Alberta, so new offers and opportunities are very hard to find. But I've made myself useful to a handful of companies, and don't anticipate any shortages in work (during a period when many are getting laid off and taking paycuts). When things pick back up, I've got a verbal offer on a position which should bring me another hefty raise. My advice: Switch whenever an opportunity comes up that offers better work or pay. Employers are generally reluctant to hand out a 10-20% raise, but they will easily pay that money to someone new coming in to fill a hole in their organization. It can be difficult to explain coming-and-going in interviews, but if you have a solid line of references and some okay answers, their need to hire is often stronger than their desire to see what's wrong with you.