Is job hopping detrimental from a long term career perspective?

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I have not been much of a hopper and I am reasonably certain if I had been, I would make a lot more than I do now.

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I was just told I have until 4/1 to find a new position or they will sever me. I’m trying hoping now. Also looking internally. Wish me luck!

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The grim reality is that the only way you can really get a substantial raise is to jump organizations. New arrivals tend to be paid better than those who have been loyally plugging away. It's a common economic phenomenon that even has a name, wage inversion.

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Not these days. Nobody expects anyone to stay anywhere longer than 2 years it seems. I think if anything, being at the same company for 15+ years is now a red flag to employers sometimes. I think the best position to be in is moving every 5 years

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@Managing Director 1,

I’ve had 3 jobs or more in 6 years, I have a better work ethic then most of those guys that hold one job 3 to 5 years. I also won’t stay at a toxic place or one that does nothing to advance my career technically or challenge me.

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From what I’ve seen in consulting and industry, it pays to stick to one company and work your way up the corporate ladder if you want to be a high level executive. If you’re just job hopping, you probably won’t be able to do that. You’ll make good money bouncing around, but you’re not gonna be a high level executive doing that.

Just my two cents from my limited experience

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You under estimate how many people have stayed at the same company but have not climbed up the promotion ladder.

And how many externals actually constitute your senior leadership team.

It is generally easier to get promoted while moving than promoted internally. Various reasons such as internal promotions causing internal vacancy chains and external promotions being more readily available while internal promotions are dependent on someone else being promoted or evicted (of their own accord or not)

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I jumped 3 companies in 4 years in my early 30s then found a company I love at a pay I like. I more than doubled my income in that time. Now I’m happy and have started climbing. I wouldn’t jump at this point for more pay. I wouldn’t want to start a new job as director or VP at a new company. I want to know the business to be effective in leadership.

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This is basically what I did.

When you're just starting I think that job hoping is essential. It's also important from an experience perspective.

Getting to know how different orgs function is important and helps you see issues and provide solutions to problems in the place you are currently working.

Pretty hard to do that if you've only ever had one or two jobs.

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I think it totally depends. It pays to stick around if the company is going to promote you and give you opportunities. But if you’re there for years and still doing the same thing in the same role with no end in sight, longevity isn’t doing anything for you.

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Yep, there isn't a single answer here. Often job hoping is the only way to really move up but you can normally tell if you're at a company that actually invests in your growth after a couple of years and decide what to do.

I went from 34k to 112k GBP in 2 years job hopping. I’m on the hunt for another position currently and my tenure with previous employers hasn’t come into question

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Let us know how that search/pay goes from here. Sounds like you were woefully underpaid to start and now probably in-the-range. (Only going by your title)

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In 35 years at Fortune 500 tech companies, I have almost NEVER gotten a raise that keeps up with inflation without a promotion. Money today is worth a bit better than half as much as the same amount from 1990 because of inflation. You would have to make double your salary from 1990 to have the same buying power. I don’t. I took pay cuts both times I was laid off after I turned 50. I have an upside down U shaped salary chart if you plot it in constant dollars. And if you think about it, at many companies you can run out of promotions after as few as 3-4 promotions. It is a pyramid with a wide base. Even after that few promotions you could easily be 1 in 100 employees. Job hopping won’t hurt you unless it gets excessive and the old two year rule between job changes seems pretty conservative. The only negative I saw was that friends who switched jobs a lot in SV often ended up at failing companies. There was an opening because the person you replaced jumped off a sinking ship. You will never get them to admit they are failing during an interview and it can be difficult to judge from outside how bad it is.

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Start ups have a high failure rate. It just comes with the territory.

It certainly used to be. But back then, the chances of getting laid off 2 or 3 times in a decade was unheard of. they would have assumed you'd been fired.

But today, companies are so bad at strategic consistency that they just keep churning and burning through actual competent people. It's not the bad look that it used to be. And the best and brightest will hop before the axe falls.

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IMO it depends on how in-demand your skills are. Employers will overlook the job hopping if they're not able to find someone like you easily. But if there are a lot of candidates, I think they'll likely pick the person they think will stay with them long term

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It honestly depends where you are in a career and what the "hopping" actually looks like. "Job hopping" is a weird, undefined term. I've never "hopped a job" in my life. Every change has been a very specific change in direction driven by opportunity and pay.

If you're 32 and you've had 5 jobs @ 2 years each AND each of those jobs have been progressive titles and responsibility... then "hopping" is fine. In that case, you're clearly not randomly bouncing jobs out of boredom, you're progressing towards a goal.

If you're 52 and you've never been at a job more than 2 years that would raise some more serious questions. Especially for things like seniority. It's very difficult to hire someone for something like a Principal position if they've literally never lasted anywhere long enough to feel the weight and sting of their own decisions.

So there is such a thing as "too much" movement between jobs.

But there are also people who have 10 years of experience that are really just the same year of experience looped 10 times. You could say "oh this person is reliable", but you could also see this as a person who is failing to progress in a fast-moving field like tech.

There is such a thing as moving too little.

Ultimately, there is no clear answer on this one. Nobody "job hops", people are switching to a better opportunity in that particular time and place. What matters most is the time in the interview where you explain those past decisions. Can you explain why you moved at that time and place? Can you reflect on whether or not that was a good idea?

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If I was told at 18 before 5 years of university that interviews were only popularity contests and that if you don't win you stay unemployed, then I probably wouldn't have went

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Your prospects definitely get worse the more you hop and the older you get. Companies don't want to be your stepping stone.

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It depends on what your goals are and how frequent you change jobs,
For DevOps, you need a wide range of knowledge. This is hard to get by staying at one company. You can learn more faster by changing companies. You can also increase your salary and corporate level faster up to a point.
But I would not change jobs in under a year, preferably 2 years, unless there is something wrong with the place your at.

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It depends. From what I've seen, it's not a bad thing when building one's career in terms of pay raises and acquiring experience. The sad reality is that companies don't hire talent to grow their career, they hire them for the company's business interests, whether or not it improves the associate's standing in their industry.

A big question that will be asked is why one jumped around. It's not as much of a question if one is moving around between startups, or from companies known to be real pressure cookers, like the FAANG companies. The key is to try to be as strategic with it as the circumstances allow, and have a purpose in mind. If it looks like one is moving around because they couldn't adapt or they got bored with the job too easily, that will hurt. If it looks like one has a clear set of goals in mind and can describe how that aligns with the prospective company's needs, it shows a purposeful drive in career development that can be of use to a company worth working for.

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Job hopping can be determinantal to some since it does not show longevity or commitment; but these days in IT that is what is required for higher pay and better opportunities.

I'd say it can cut employment opportunities, but employers have made this a necessary evil

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All depends. I don’t mind job hoppers when I hire, as long as the contribute I’m happy. If they leave oh well, they may have not liked it and I get to see someone new.

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Yes, it is

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Hmm if that’s the case I would be unemployed for last 5 years. Like your current position I was support specialist and job hopped, had to in order to get up in my ranks. I stayed in some places 2 years but most 1 year and one for 4 years.

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Lots of good comments, so far. Job hopping is situational, IMO. As one poster stated, early to mid-career it's good to get exposure to different org structures, operational approaches, etc. I'll add that you can learn new technologies, architectures, and business veritcals. All of these things will help you determine what you prefer and where you will prosper.

As a hiring manager of 15 years, there's a limit to how much job hopping I want to see on a resume. To a point, it's a plus. Too much becomes a red flag.

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Not inherently bad in today's market. It can lead to more $$$ and diverse experience. Tech is more accepting than most industries. Just make sure when / if you make a move, do it with a purpose.

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If I had job-hopped, I'd likely be employed. It doesn't matter what you do, or how much you do. There is no loyalty among corporations. Why should you limit yourself?

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I've hopped twice (almost thrice) in the last four years. I would imagine it looks like I'm not a good investment but it hasn't obviously impacted my prospects. Different roles have given me very wide experience which typically nets me the interview. I can then explain that all my previous hops were more shoves because the company was moving away from the tech stack in which I specialize. One consequence/consideration of job hopping is that it creates a two year cycle for many employers as well if their staff is regularly turning over. By the time I was two years in any role, my hiring manager was gone, my original team was gone, 70% of my team members were gone, my departments were gone, and my role had started to significantly shift, in a negative way. Your role may be gone in two years and then you have no choice but to "hop" too.

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