Career Advice

Worst advice ever. Your blood pressure will rise and you will wish you were a farmer.

Yes, if you stay at a dysfunctional company for five years, and everyone more competent left: Steve in sales will address you as the senior engineer at the start of the call.

It won't feel good, that guy is an idiot.

Funny idea that you’re going to get promotion and pay rise by staying where you are and hoping the management will magically appreciate your efforts and reward you.

I can see how that would very easily happen, but my experience is that it's easier to find a new job than get a raise. Eventually you'll get that senior position too.

Forbes magazine found a long time ago that the best way to get a raise in America is to find another job.
- Also true in Germany
- I've gotten anywhere from 20k to 40k increases when I switch companies. If I stay I'm only getting the "standard" 2~4%
- Literally just got a 300% raise from switching
- That was a long time ago though. Since covid the market has changed and it’s probably not as good of an idea to be a job hopper as it was.
The job-jump pay benefits may be true long-term but I've been keeping my eye on the Atlanta Fed Wage Growth tool with some relevant data. The difference between switchers and stayers is very small right now probably driven by slow hiring. The market is cold. We may all become seniors unless we get laid off or the market changes for the better.
https://www.atlantafed.org/chcs/wage-growth-tracker
I'm currently at the 1 year mark of my IT internship, idk when I should leave. Should I stick with it for another year while I'm still in school and then jump after I graduate? Should I get a new job and jump this summer? So many options
- The best time to shop other jobs is while you're still getting paid at your current one.

Hahaha yep after five years you do become the person who knows how to do shit. But you still get paid the same wage just for more effort. If you are working for 5 years and you are being mistreated please leave without a two week notice. I never thought I would the one to do it but its good for your mental health

Important Note: Being "the person who knows how everything works around here" means nothing to them when it's time for layoffs.

Also, your yearly performance reviews are less than meaningless

It does mean something to them, but not in a way that will stop you from getting laid off; what it means is that after laying you off, they'll quickly come to regret it and scramble to try to fill the knowledge gap they now have. I know a few people who were called up by the company basically begging them to help. A couple of people I know were able to leverage this to get a short term position contracting (at exorbitantly higher rates than their salary way), and a few others instead just cackled in schadenfreude.
- Haha, that's the former head of my department. They asked for a good raise (after building the infrastructure from ground up), the company said nah, so they left for a better position and much more money than what the current dept. head is making. The company now pays for their consulting, and the management still hasn't learned their lesson, because they're still stingy with the raises.
You must tackle that with being underpaid!
/j

Stick around for at least five years and you're the guru who knows everything, so you've got job security
Change jobs every five years, because managers love to offer "experienced hires" more than the current actually experienced staff

The Two Genders

Woah woah woah, 5 years? I can't pretend to be a good worker for that long
You either leave for a better offer, or stay long enough to see yourself become laid off.
- I've had more than a few friends do very well in O&G, riding through a downturn, getting a fat severance, taking a prolonged vacation / working in a smaller company for a few years, then getting hired back when the original company rebuilds.
  Schlumberger, in particular, has been through this cycle twice. Exxon has done it on and off for a century. My own firm is the reconstituted remains of Enron, now highly profitable thanks to its stake in the Permian Basin.
  Lots of these companies have people who know each other and have worked together for decades.

"The best career advice is to just not get fired or laid off, idiot, duh."

Wow, why didn't I think of that.

Nintendo career advice!

Yeah. But that doesn't reflect salary. Staying Long enough isn't going to be a higher position.

Literally me right now in my job after two years. Projet Owner left, Tech Lead left, two Devops engineers left... I was supposed to be just a Dev and instead I end up doing a bit of everything. Fucking crazy. Coincidentally, I've never been in a job for more than two years...

how many yoe ?

And when you're the knowledgeable senior you will also have the knowledge that they're hiring people for more than they pay you.

I've done that. It sucks.

An AWS employee, I see
Just gotta do it with confidence
- The managers do say "move fast and break things."
  They don't like it when we do which is odd.
- Just don't write bugs. Problem solved.

It also means not absolutely hating your job. If you're the only hater and everyone else likes working in the company you'll have a bad time waiting for everyone to leave.

If you’re the only hater and everyone else likes working in the company
If everyone hates that one guy, they're probably an asshole. If you're the one guy that hates everyone else, you might be the asshole.

Advancement by attrition

I speed ran this. First job right out of uni, the team lead went on holiday 2 weeks later and never came back. Everyone else was gone within 3 months.

You had your first total team wipe within 3 months? Impressive.
I had three of them so far, but within 12 years.

the people in my team started in the company: 1992, 2002, 2008, 2010, 2020 and me: 2025, it's gonna be a long wait 😞

The 92 guy has to be retiring soon.
- I started in 1990, my official retirement date is 2037. That's the date I can claim government pension in the UK.

You won't get laid more, that's for sure!

Can confirm, it happened twice to me.

Me too!
And I quickly found out why everyone else had left. (The job after was good though.)

Or even though you are around for years the unqualified boss's nephew gets the raise and senior position.

But at what cost.. At what cost..

Nearly everyone else in a team I work on decided to leave along with their boss, so guess who's left with the knowledge