My dad only had two jobs in his professional life. Worked at one company for 30 years and another for about 8, I think. I walk around here and see people with placques on their cubes that say 10, 15, 20, 25+ years of service. Given the ever evolving workplace, what do you think of this? Do you think that having one job for your entire career is still seen as a badge of honor? How do you perceive this?

I'll reserve my opinion...what do you guys think about this wholesale change in the way people work in America? Or any country that you are in?

 

Good for the company. Usually good for your health. Bad for your income.

 

I think that my 3 year stint in municipal government may have skewed my opinion, but I found that a lot of the people who had 10+ years at the same job lacked drive more than anything... I spent hours trying to convince a very bright, talented secretary that she needed to be looking for a higher paying job - she'd been doing the same thing for 12 years, and could easily have pulled in an extra 15-20k/year, but she had no desire to take any steps to improve her situation. Meanwhile, she's 37 and renting an apartment (which she had many opportunities to purchase) with a roommate because it's what she's always done... This is just one of a hundred examples I could give you from inside gov't work. On the ouside, things tend to be a tad different though.

 

There's rarely a fast track with one company. The purpose of moving around is to enrich your experience and therefore what you can offer the next potential employer. But I suspect you can only get away with it when you're relatively young (under 35, maybe?), and shouldn't do it more than every 2-3 years.

The other point being companies used to reward employees for loyalty. Now they rarely do.

cal

 

I personally never stay in the same place too long. I need the challenge, The new atmosphere to keep me motivated, because I am basically a slacker, but love to prove my self to the companies I work for. I see the 50 or so people in the back of our place doing assembly, Some have been there for 20 years. It make me sad to think that they are so complacent in thier posistion they have no drive to move ahead.
all this is not to say that being a dedicated long term employee is bad, just not for me. Now say if I was the president of Honda for example, making 5 million a year, with bonous's out the ying yang, It would be pretty hard to convince me to leave.
So to summarize...I just don't know

 

The one thing I learned in life is there is no right or wrong, good or bad. Whatever you are comfortable with is right. If staying at one job is what you want, then its right....... there are no awards for doing the "right thing" you live life one time so do what you want with it, not what someone or society expects you to do.

Also money isn't everything, neither is success in your work life.

 

Charlie, there is right and wrong and good and bad. What your are speaking of is librality. Living in the middle. People sometimes live in this frame of mind as not to create any pain for themselves. Imagined or otherwise. Just doing the right thing because it seems correct or because you feel comfortable with it has created, Hitlers, serial killers and more. Prisions are full of them. There are rewards, and those you share within yourself and God.

I think that CEOs of major American companies have fallen prey to there own greed and averous. I don't like it at all. It sucks that employees have no job security. Security is a need of life. Being so unstable is not only volitile but distressing. Society says that this is the way of things. I'm sorry, no it's not! CEO and business owners have gotten away from the correct path they need to pursue. The path to success not an easy course but it definately more stable and secure. Money and profit is their Gods and the principals they live by. This is just ashame and they should be ashamed. America was built on hard work, patience and charity towards one another. Not on money. The generations of today focus on nothing but money and what happiness it can buy them. They are lead astray from the real issues that matter in life. Kinda like cattle to the slaughter. Everyone, needs security and peace of mind. To find it you have to work hard and be patient. .COMS are not the answer nor are investments in an unstable world economy. I'm going to jump down from my soapbox now! I don't have all the answers but I can tell you the way things are headed is the correct way.

 

Greg,

good question!

I've worked at (counting on fingers...) seven, I think, software companies in (counting on fingers and toes...) fifteen years. The longest stint was about four years. One company (there were two of us working there) moved out of town after I'd been there a couple of months. I've seen buyouts, mergers, takeovers, layoffs, stock options under water, stock options worth a little, etc.

There are some people in this industry who've been with one company for a long time, but that's the exception, not the rule.

It's pretty hard for me to personally relate to having the same job for 25 years (although my parents have both been professors at the same university for over 35 years!) I've certainly enjoyed working at places with different cultures, working on different types of products, and meeting different people.

Ted

 

Greg,

I think it really depends on what industry you're in. I've had almost a new job every year to yeah and a half, but I'm in tech. A lot of the jumping around had to do with companies going under. I left before that happened. I also left to learn new things and get more experience in different areas. You gotta constantly be learning to stay afloat in tech.

 

At my company, we talk about the Golden Handcuffs. We make just a bit more than industry average and have a few extra benefits, but we also get stock options every year. The options don't become exercisable for 5 years, and don't expire for 7 years after that.

If you figure that the average company's stock price increases 11% per year, you are looking at big pot of money...if today's price is $100, then it will be $345 in 12 years, and you make $245 profit per share when you excercise your options. If your option grant was for 500 shares, you just made $122,750 profit!

See? Even if you hate your job and hate your boss, you can't walk away from the money that you might get in 10 or 12 years. I say 'might' because my company's stock price is down 70% in the last year, so most of our options are worthless.

Anyway, my point is that job hopping also carries costs. You might get a $10,000 boost in salary, but you lose all of your benefits which didn't vest at your last company...retirement, 401(k) contributions by the company, etc.

Most tech companies do a yearly ranking process. It matches your importance to the company to your total compensation. If you just job-hopped into my company at a big raise, then you will be sticking out like a sore thumb (high pay, medium importance) so you will get zero raise until your pay is back in line with your importance to the company.

Bang! Get a big raise by jumping companies. Bang! You don't get any raises until you salary is comparable to your accomplishments.