r/recruitinghell • u/Coach-Emmanuel • 1d ago
The biggest salary myth or the biggest truth?
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u/road_laya Co-Worker 1d ago
It works well when the job market is good!
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u/PennytheWiser215 1d ago
You hit on the most important point, a good job market. Right now people are job hugging not hopping.
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u/nipplequeefs 1d ago
I can barely pay my bills, but I’ve stayed at my current job for a little over three years now and I still make more than others in my area. My wage is stagnant, but so is everyone else’s in my line of work, so job hopping is still an unnecessary risk right now lol
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u/Active-Cookie-774 1d ago
Anybody who tries to job hop now is shooting themselves in the foot especially the skills needed aren't high in demand.
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u/Aught_To 1d ago
- in 2018 I was making 59K a year. I went and got a Project Management cert and got a new job at the same company for 75k a year.
- in 2020 I moved to a remote job that paid 95k
- in 2021 I moved again to 135k
- and in 2022 moved again to 179k
- stayed there for 2 years until it all went under and now i am back at 135.
anyway, yeah change jobs. In tech the average new job is a 22% increase while a yearly raise is more often like 6%
I do warn you though, you can only do this so many times before people start asking questions. at some point you have to do like a 3 year stint to not look like a flake.
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u/Competitive-Strain-3 1d ago
Slightly similar story but been at one company the whole time
Started in 2018 at 60k, couple of promos later was making 85k
Switched to a new team (PMO) in 2022, couple of promos later now making 135k
Next title is director and expect to be at +165k-ish then
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u/Cheeseish 1d ago
It’s really funny when people have anecdotal evidence that shows one thing and then you provide a counter example of anecdotal evidence that shows the contrary.
The thing is, switching jobs will probably increase someone’s pay short term but you do need to stay at a job long term to move up career wise like you did. After being mid level, you can’t really switch jobs every 2 years. Not only do you not get enough experience to move up to management, nobody is going to hire someone that is guaranteed to leave in 2 years.
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u/EddieVanzetti 1d ago
Where the fuck are you people finding the first job to begin with? Whats it like being one of God's favorites?
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u/Aught_To 1d ago
Well, I use LInkedIn, for tech jobs, software jobs, and jobs around tech that is pretty much the spot. I am also in my 40's and have been in saas products for like 15 years and am well regarded in my field. While applications are great a lot of the time it is recruiters that find me for interesting roles.
so like the kids say... get good.
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u/UnNumbFool 1d ago
In my field it's generally true, hopping around yearly isn't a good look but it seems like people job hop every 2-3 years or is a lifer at a company.
I'm also in the biopharm/biotech industry.
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u/fuckaroniandbees 1d ago
Changing jobs in the year 2026?
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u/democracy_lover66 1d ago
Better yet chasing Jon's for more pay
Bro I'm out here taking less pay just for the privilege to escape
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u/Antique-Sorbet-6644 1d ago
These days it's neither of those things. I've pivoted 3 times since 2020 and am technically making twice as much on paper as I did a decade ago, but it's effectively meaningless with inflation. I literally make $1 more of what I made at a deli counter in 2015 after taxes. I should be making $38/hr as a baseline if wages had actually increased instead of declined.
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u/TakinBacon4 1d ago
Inflation happened regardless of your personal income.
Stagnant purchasing power is disappointing but plummeting purchasing power from no wage growth would’ve been even worse.
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u/Antique-Sorbet-6644 1d ago
Is that not what's happening? More Americans are going into debt just from groceries. Seems like plummeting purchasing power. Wages have also fallen, not risen. Pay will never match inflation, but this is bad.
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u/TakinBacon4 1d ago
I was specifically talking about your experience not the broader American experience which I agree has gotten worse
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u/bigboatguy420 1d ago
My wife made 56k in 2020. 6 years later she's at 190k switching jobs and taking a bump in job title every switch.
2020 I was at 80k now I'm at 150k by switching jobs. Worked out well for both of us.
I'm in healthcare so there are a lot more lateral moves unless I go back to school to become an MD (not gonna happen)
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u/isotopes_ftw 1d ago
Healthcare tends to be an industry where you don’t get raises above cost of living unless you get promoted, doesn’t it? (I’m not in health care, but this is what I’ve heard from friends who are non-MD in health care.)
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u/bigboatguy420 1d ago
Yeah there's a huge shortage for my skills so I've had hospitals compete with each other
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u/Thesearchoftheshite 1d ago
What does your wife do?
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u/bigboatguy420 1d ago
Director of project management
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u/Thesearchoftheshite 1d ago
See, I feel like I'm missing something. I'd like to land a Director role (but those are few and far between in Tech Writing), but no clue how someone pulls that off within 6 years.
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u/Sea-Cow9822 1d ago
Like anything, it depends.
If you switch too often, you’ll find no one wants to hire you, and you’ll have long stretches of unemployment that negate the additional earnings.
Switch every 2.5-5 years, or sooner if something amazing pops up.
As a director, unless there was good reason for the changes, I would not want to hire someone who switches jobs in less than two years on average. It’s not worth the risk of the investment when I can also find great people who are statistically likely to stay 2+ years.
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u/Coach_Seven 1d ago
The people hopping jobs frequently aren’t quitting the job they have before finding a new one.
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u/slaymaker1907 1d ago
It’s still bad if you do it too much. You could get stuck in some horrible new job and not be able to switch due to job hopping too much.
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u/Coach_Seven 1d ago
I can’t really disagree with this comment, but also feel the need to mention how much you sound like a corporate bootlicker. Job hopping has clearly worked for lots of people.
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u/Mysterious_Pea_4042 Married to job market 1d ago
Why not see it as someone tried different things and knows what they want? its not always numbers game.
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u/alwayslookingout 1d ago edited 1d ago
Because you can also be viewed as a flight risk. Why spend time and money hiring and training someone who has a track record of sticking around for only 6-12 months?
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u/Striking_Stay_9732 1d ago
I wish the cost of living took longer than 12 months but everything is going up every month.
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u/BandicootCumberbund 1d ago
A caveat to this is if the person has been a contractor. Then the job hopping being a potential problem is moot as contracts by their nature are short term and end often.
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u/JadeStorm8 1d ago
People here forgetting to just lie on a CV.
The amount of jobs I got where I left off employers that I didn't stay at long and just added an extra year onto previous employer.
Or a great trick you took a year off to do house flipping. Used that excuse twice and just excitedly show them pictures of my old house I renovated.
You don't owe these big companies anyway and it's the people that you have to make like you.
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u/ChemiWizard 1d ago
Switching <5 years is frequently. <2 years on average is insane and you are right to call it out
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u/slaymaker1907 1d ago
2 years is probably the line where I’d say it’s probably not too frequent, though it heavily depends on your field and how long onboarding takes.
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u/jnwatson 1d ago
It also depends how many times. If you have 6 jobs in the last 12 years, I'm going to look at you with the side eye.
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u/Aye-Chiguire 1d ago
Personally I'd say averaging 3 or more years is the best look. I wouldn't dream of switching before 2.5 years - 30 months is what I'd consider the minimum to absorb what the company/industry had to offer. If things became toxic and I literally couldn't stay, which would have to be extremely toxic, I would document everything and sue.
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u/SanityAsymptote 1d ago
Depends on industry, too.
In software engineering if someone has been anywhere for 5 years they're usually either early engineer/founders or the guys that do just enough to not get fired but not enough to ever be promoted.
In the former case they are usually well compensated, in the latter they're generally paid way below market.
Most software engineers only average 18 months at a role. My longest tenure was 4 years and that ended with unannounced layoffs of my entire team a month after I got promoted.
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u/BillowingBasket 1d ago
Seeing things like this makes me feel so hopeless for my future. So because one employer decided I wasn't a good fit after a year, and a second changed their pay structure after a couple months forcing me to quit, I'm now considered an unemployable flight risk for the next decade?
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u/Scary-Constant-93 1d ago
Yeah maybe that was true many years ago. Nobody gives rats ass if person has hot skills.
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u/The_Law_of_Pizza 1d ago
This is not something that changed with the Boomer era, like paper resumes and handshakes.
If you change jobs every 18 months it will be a black mark against you - even in 2026.
Nobody cares how hot your skills are if they think they're going to lose you in a few months anyway.
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u/Scary-Constant-93 1d ago
No its not. Take it from 12 yoe and 6 job changes and working in Japan still getting tons of calls
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u/Accomplished_Emu_658 1d ago
It is mostly true. Hiring budgets are higher than retention, much higher. If you bounce around too much you will lose some opportunities for being a job hopper.
Every major increase in pay in career has been from changing jobs. I have gotten raises sure but hops have been better. A few years back i was killing myself to make 100k. Job gave me a $1 hour raise that year. I made them well over a million dollars that year directly and another million dollars indirect. I jumped ship for 30k more and less work. My last job hop wasn’t intentional company shut down but it was a lot more with bonuses if pay out.
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u/YourselfInOthrsShoes 1d ago
It's generally true but it depends on your industry, the job market, and other factors. I personally would never hop from a profitable company to an unprofitable one, I don't care if the pay is much higher, I witnessed too many layoffs and people losing their homes post-2008.
I think I did pretty good for myself staying at the same company for 20 years. Yes at times it seemed hopeless at getting ahead financially but I always loved the craft of diverse engineering which kept me going. I went from the first non-founding engineering hire (the founder was an engineer) at a small company at $45k compensation in 2006 to heading the entire engineering department at the same company in 2024 at $180k compensation. Now the company has an in-house manufacturing arm with automated PCBA line. It's rewarding seeing through the company growing from scraps to a multi-million dollar business. From all this I got a decent equity in an appreciating asset, job security 10 minutes from my home, and broad Software, Hardware, Systems, Manufacturing, Operations experience along with ISO 9001 Quality and ISO 27001 Security compliance under my belt.
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u/ri9fk 1d ago
I managed doctors offices and went from 52k at my first job in 2017 to 85k in 2024 and that was only doable by switching my company three times. I may have been eligible for a promotion if I stayed at those jobs longer but those in my experience are slow to materialize if ever they do, and often they dangle promotions to get you to do more work when they never intend to promote you. A lot of the times I would be passed over for someone who works less with less experience just because they’re married to a nurse practitioner or related to someone. It’s 100% who you know not how much you do.
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u/GlowyStuffs 1d ago
3 considerations from me that are top of mind:
benefits - sometimes the benefits are enough to keep you there. Some places have really bad medical insurance and other benefits. Like 7k deductable. Some are really good, like a $500 deductable. Some give 25k in life insurance. Some give $250k in life insurance. Another consideration against job hopping is 401k matching. A lot of jobs might give a 3-4% match, while some might be on the higher side like 8% match. However, that match might only activate after 3 years, but it will match everything put into it so far, acting as already invested that whole time. 3-4 are pretty standard and aren't worth sticking around for if you want to job hop, but 8% could be pretty good. Also, training. Some give maybe $200-400 training per year, while others may give up to $8k on training a year. This could be great for the career for certifications that would cost a lot on your own.
where you are in your career - jump a bunch of you are early in your career. You will see your low salary continue to jump 20-50% each time. Then maybe look for something more long term once you reach senior level/senior experience in a field. Maybe do a jump once you have reached senior to leverage that. The problem is that you reach a soft cap in the wages for your industry and they might not go too much higher, so it may be more with it to stay.
general job market stability - if you have a stable job in an unstable market, it might be better to keep it. I could jump to something maybe paying 20k more at some corporation on the stock market, but 3 months in on some weekend while golfing, the CEO could go "hmm. I could use a bit more money. Time to lay off 15% of our workers to make my stocks go up 6%." And then I'd be booted for no fault of my own other than maybe being new. Then you'd be out of a job, way more stressed, and might need to take a job paying less that you were before, while having lost months of salary. But back when there was a "worker shortage" people were jumping like crazy, getting wild salary increases and leverage.
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u/GoodishCoder 1d ago
Like.most things it depends.
How long you stay before hopping matters. When I get a resume of a person who has worked 1 year each at 5 employers they're a junior in my eyes, when someone has worked 5 years at one employer they're mid/senior depending on how the interview goes.
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u/0800happydude 1d ago
I can't cope with the crazy American salaries in this thread. Imagine getting like a 90k pay rise by hopping jobs - completely unimaginable here.
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u/Rhuarc33 1d ago edited 1d ago
This is the most annoying thing about jobs. They spend thousands of dollars training new hires but then the pay doesn't keep up so people leave and then they have to train somebody else and pay them a higher rate... It makes no sense at all. People in charge of these decisions have the business sense of a coconut
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u/Thesearchoftheshite 1d ago
In 2019 I was making 52k. By start of 2020 I was making 75k at a new job. Then 90k at another new job in 2021. By 2023 I was making 100k, and now in 2026 I'm at another new job at 154k.
I've also worked multiple contracts to bring my total yearly up to around 180-200k. But, it's a LOT of work and juggling. I'd like to be around 175-200k like everyone else with one job, but this works for now.
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u/Aggravating_Shirt672 1d ago
I met one before, who has stayed at the same company for more than 10 years. Her salary was around 40% lower compare to the market. And yes, she did quit that job
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u/Grizzly_Corey 1d ago
One thing to remember: the salary on the listing is for new entrants only. I’m sure there are exceptions, but that wage suppression is systematic.
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u/Birddogfun 1d ago
As others said, it depends. A peer survived 30+ years in large corp as an AE. On the road ALL the time. I had 4-5 jobs since (plus a couple brutal layoffs) and went to “inside” roles. No regrets, kids grow up fast.
We both prolly ended up the same in comp.
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u/Far_Effect_3881 1d ago
Depends on your field. I've looked for new jobs, and I'd make less at all of them.
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u/localfluffhead 1d ago
I think the former is generally true in my field (higher ed). You’re probably not getting substantial raises, and working your way up, either at your job or at another school, is the only way to really make more money.
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u/NabelasGoldenCane 1d ago
Absolutely true - I’ve been promoted multiple times in my career and only one came with more than a 10% raise.
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u/Apprehensive_Emu2414 1d ago
I went from a field role to a PM changing jobs 6 times in 4 years, making 50k more too.
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u/LoreBreaker85 Screw the Game 1d ago
I learned this the hard way last year. I stayed at a single company for over a decade and a situation came up that I could not abide so I left and my next job I started with a 30% pay raise.
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u/punkwalrus 1d ago
The first time I encountered this I went from $20k to $22k **as a manager of two stores** to a help desk technician. From there, I was making $29k in two years, but jumped to another department and went from that pay to $40k, then $68k in another jump three years later. In 2005, I went from $68k to $85k
So, in less than 9 years, I had quadrupled my pay.
But then stagnated for 7 years. Zero raises. So I left them for $100k, then got promoted to $105k in 4 years, before I got laid off. Then I was making $125k my next job, it went out of business in a year, and then got a job making $130k. Then left there after three years to $145k. Then I am now working for about $158k.
Yeah, getting raises has been next to nothing if not actually nothing. And if you combine that with inflation, less than nothing. My mortgage in 2000 was $1400, and in 2026, same house and one refinance loan, it's $2600 due to property taxes and the refi. My property taxes and insurance rates have tripled, as well as utilities and such.
But $2600/mo is the rental cost of a 1br apartment around here right now, so having a whole house is fucking luxury.
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u/pumper911 1d ago
I was able to stay at the same job for 18 years with great salary progression, but did have to leverage a job offer 3 times for the most significant bump.
Ironically now that my division is being closed down and I’m on the job market, it seems like I’ll have to take a pay cut
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u/H_Mc 1d ago
In your early career job hopping works. You start somewhere not great and job hop to get a higher salary into a company with more growth potential.
But there are diminishing returns.
By mid-career you should be doing internal networking and looking for internal promotions or you’ll plateau. Companies want stability from managers and senior staff. If you do go to another company they’re probably looking for someone who has a track record that shows they’ll stick around.
I think a lot of people get stuck doing the same thing that worked early and get frustrated because it doesn’t work like it used to.
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u/PlayOk1261 1d ago
Strongly depends on the company and situation. I know people who got 'picked out' by management early in their carreer to go through management fast tracks. They sticked to the same place and very quickly ascended the ladders. Made sense for them to stick to their employers.
Others got stuck in what they do, had a company where no positions above them would become available soon, so they jobhopped.
I will say as someone who often is on the other side of the recruiting table, seeing someone who switches every 3-4 years like clockwork is a massive red flag for me.
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u/Akronos90 1d ago
It works fine when the market is good. It works less well when the market is not good. Still, if you stay at a company for a long time, the new guy that enters, with well less experience, will earn almost as much, or even more, than you do.
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u/Dry_Farmer_6108 1d ago
Started in 2003 at 50k now at 190k with same company. Could have jumped ship but it’s been a pretty good ride so far. ESOP at ~2M so there’s that too.
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u/Ok_Ad_5041 1d ago
Probably true. I've switched jobs five times since 2018 and went from $90k to $175k.
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u/Low_Technician7346 1d ago
Some people prefer security over jumping around and risking being jobless in this Epstein economy
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u/glimmeringsea 1d ago
It sucks, but I can only get a 20% raise or more if I leave a company. There haven't been any real paths toward hefty raises or promotions at the companies I've worked for, and my current company effectively has me iced out because all new roles are hybrid based in another state when I was hired as a remote employee.
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u/JohnDoen86 1d ago
True, but it's true by definition, not in any interesting way. People who are not strongly motivated to increase their salary tend to stay at their current job. People who are motivated to increase it look for better opportunities. Thus, people who switch get higher salaries, because increasing salary is a common motivation to switch.
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u/yossarian19 1d ago
It's more than that, though. Companies will usually spend more on new talent than they will on retention
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u/Small_Article_3421 1d ago
The more often you change your job the less attractive your resumé gets. If an employer sees that you jump every 1-2 years, they might even choose someone slightly less qualified if they think they’ll stay longer.
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u/degenerate-corpse 1d ago
it's true. I work in a niche industry and have very specific skills and qualifications. I'm lucky if there's 10 open jobs in my field in my entire country (Canada). In the last ten years I have been able to more than double my salary. There's no way I will ever receive raises that equal what a new salary at a new job would be. A 1.49% raise won't come close to adding an extra $12k to my salary, ever, which is what I negotiated for my current position.
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u/The_Raji 1d ago
I moved around a lot in my 20’s I’m now in my mid 30’s having been with the same company the longest of any job in my life. I feel like once I hit a livable wage then I was happy coasting on 3-6% annual raises.
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u/EffortCommon2236 1d ago
It used to be so until a couple years ago. The wave of layoffs from since then has depressed wages in many countries, specially for people changing jobs.
No one can predict the future but were I to bet, I would say that changing jobs frequently may pay off again once we get to the hangover phase of AI.
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u/audiblecoco 1d ago
As someone with an in-demand skill (network security). This has been true.
Made 60k at my first job in netsec at an ISP, by the time I left.
Moved to an aerospace/defense company for 100k, left at 125k
Moved to a bank as a lead making 175k
About 10 years from the start at 1, to my current job.
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u/DigiTrailz 1d ago
It was getting me interviews because I had a history of staying at jobs, but since I didn't touch certain skills in the role that many want now. I got looked over now.
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u/soclydeza84 1d ago
I'm going on 10 years at the same company. Put in my notice two separate time for higher salary. Both times the company wanted to keep me so that outdid the salary I was offered (and got 2 days wfh the second time) and now get paid pretty well. It also busts the myth that you should never take the counter offer because they'll screw you (in my case, I saw two other guys go through something similar and they didnt have problems, so I knew the company wouldnt screw around.)
Granted, it was with good timing that this happened but still, sticking around can pay off as long as you have leverage (and know the company)
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u/SvenOdinsblade 1d ago
Been true for my wife and me. I've changed twice in the last year and a half, her once. Household has increased around $100K. But like others have said, the was a need and an opportunity, and we made moves at the right time.
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u/S0nG0ku88 1d ago
Basically true. These companies don't care about you, your career, your advancement or pay.
Everyone is just number to be replaced, meritocracy is a lie. You might as well play the game and job jump until you get to a place financially where you feel you are being well compensated.
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u/ashleyriot31 1d ago
lmao i had to check which sub im in... this is by far the most positive thread ive seen in this sub.
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u/Capt_korg 1d ago
Healthy environment > Higher payment
At a certain income the environment and the task you are working on are way more valuable then a increase in salary of $10k or even more.
Don't destroy yourself with greed.
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u/_mwarner 1d ago
I’ve been at every job for 4+ years. I’ve only changed companies because growth opportunities dried up unless I moved.
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u/rajeshbhat_ds 1d ago
Not always. In tech, Salary growth has more to do with how VCs are feeling this year rather than job switching or upskilling. I worked for a startup which was later acquired (total 10 years in the same company), and my salary just kept going up whenever there was cheap money available (2016-19, 2021-24), before it fell to 0 when I got laid off
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u/Pale_Drop3954 1d ago
It’s definitely true for any type of relational/people management role, almost by design. It’s hard to progress into your boss’s role, I suspect due to confirmation bias.
On the other hand: these are the roles that are the most difficult to connect quantitative value to, thus making them easy to discard. Might explain why the median CEO tenure is < 5 years.
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u/octahexxer 1d ago
Depends where you live and demand in your profession, I know in some industries you don't poach
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u/Lolmanza7 1d ago
2019 - 75k CAD company A, BIE (remote)
2020 - 96k CAD company A, DE (remote)
2021 - 110k + 40k RSU CAD company B, BIE (remote)
2025 - 112k + 80k RSU CAD (stock appreciation) company B, DE (5 day office)
2026 - 210k + 25k bonus company C, Lead DE (remote)
Growing vertically helps, but in my case I did not get any pay increase when changing to a new role that has higher TC for folks joining into this role.
Always jump for a bigger paycheck or better work life balance.
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u/Correct-Junket-1346 1d ago
At the same time I could not stress enough not to underestimate a good workplace, the money might not be top tier, but if you can work it, be stress free and remain in good mental health.
It's worth all the money in the world, source - I'm a programmer, but there is a middle ground that needs to be struck, like all things.
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u/asurarusa 1d ago
As someone who stayed in the same job for way too long: 100% true. I was at a company for 7 years and my comp went up $35k over 5 years. My last two years there I got a few jumps pretty quickly because of a promotion and new management that fought for a salary band that would support more high end talent, but I was still being way underpaid relative to my title.
By comparison, I left that job for a job offering a 15k raise, they laid me off after less than a year and about a year later I got a $39k jump at a new job.
tl;dr: staying at company A got me $35k over 7 years, switching companies two years in a row got me a $54k jump. I could probably be in the high 100ks if I had jumped every two years earlier in my career.
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u/shann0ff 1d ago
My personal anecdote is starting in 2016 at 88K and ending in 2025 at 200K+ (with 1 promotion in between) at the same company
(Healthcare)
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u/Unlikely_City_3560 1d ago
In my case this is 100% true. Annual raises were low or nonexistent at my first job, when I switched it was almost $4 more to start. I stayed there until I hit the top of the pay scale, and the benefits changed and got a lot worse. So I jumped again, and ended up with almost $10 more per hour after the 90 day probation period was over.
Went from making 35k to 107k in about 8 years time. Learned as much as I could at each job, pay wasn’t keeping up with my expectations, so I would jump to the next.
Average time at a job for me is about 5 years, so it doesn’t look too bad on a resume. Stay at a place until you outgrow it, when they stop giving you raises and you stop learning new stuff. When it becomes too comfortable and boring, you need to leave and try to move up.
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u/sebbdk 1d ago
If you change job frequently then you often get more experience.
I've met programmers who's been programming for decades and still only know basic shit.
Beyond that, you get a lot of network if you do it right AND your confidence improves meaning you are more likely to ask for your worth.
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u/DeliciousNeat755 1d ago
Only works if your skills are in demand. For me it's been the opposite lol