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Is Switching Jobs Too Often a Bad Thing?
Career Hot Potato asks: "I've been out of school for little more than a year and I have only good things to say about the job market. So far, there doesn't seem to be any lack of demand for a good .NET developer. I've got to admit, though, I feel a little disloyal at this point. Several great job offers have come my way and I've taken them. My resume is starting to make me look a bit restless and it worries me. Until now I've just chalked it up to 'I'm just settling in,' but now another opportunity has been dropped into my lap. Would I be digging my own grave by taking this job? It'd be my fourth job in 16 months but each offered a promotion and a 30% to 40% raise. I know better than to put a price on job satisfaction but I'm pretty certain I'd be happy there. Is being branded as a 'hot potato' enough to keep you from switching? What's your price on this stigma?"
Yes! Switching jobs often makes you look like a "job hopper". You can do it once but your resume should have a job that spans several years right after it. That way you can lie about the short job and get away with it.
Antti S. Brax - Old school - http://www.iki.fi/asb/
As with anything else, there's no hard and fast rules, but it can be a bad thing because it makes you look like a disloyal salary chaser. One of the (many) problems in the .com era was that people would jump form ship to ship chasing higher salaries. You'd get trained people leaving a job they'd been at for a number of years and then hop across 5 different startups. Well, when the market came down is it and wonder that companies were less inclined to hire them? I mean who's to say they wouldn't jump ship as soon as a bigger number came along?
However please don't take this to mean you should try and stick with a company no matter what. You do not owe your company anything other than good work and you shouldn't stick around in a situation that sucks. However do take in to consideration that what goes around comes around in terms of loyalty.
My personal rule would be don't switch jobs without a good reason. There are lots of things that could be a good reason, but just a salary increase really isn't. There's much more to happiness than money and if you get in a game of chasing dollars it is easy to make yourself unhappy. Figure out what you want out of work and try to find a place that offers that. Then stay there unless there's a reason to move. Also consider other things like work environment, benefits (such a vacation, health coverage), and so on.
So don't turn this down just because you feel you are switching too often, but don't take it just because it is more dollars, unless you are in a situation where you need the money (in which case ask yourself why, and make sure you don't get there again). Take it if it will be better for your long term happiness. Money is certainly a part of that, but consider all the factors.
Do this not only because you want to be happy, but because it is easier to explain to a future employer if they ask about it. If they say "You have a lot of jobs here in the past few years, why is that?" You come off much better explaining how the changes were for personal reasons such as liking the new challenge, growth, better environment, etc than if you just say you were after bigger bucks.
Also part of it depends on how you want to present yourself in the job market. A legit way to go is a consultant kind of worker. Maybe not an actual consultant, but willing to take on short-term work. Company needs a developer for a single project that's maybe 6-12 months, you say sure and ride that while it's there then move on. In that case switching jobs is not just expected but probably even an asset as they won't worry you'll be pissed when they lay you off. However if you are more after the stable environment, where you work for a place for 5, 10, or more years and train to do new things as necessary, then look at doing less job hopping as places like that want people who will stick around.
Ultimately you are the only one with the answers. Just consider the reasons and make sure they are good ones. Make sure you consider everything you are giving up and that it still is worth it.
#1 - If you're finding jobs offering that much more money every 4 months or so, it means you sold yourself too cheap at first. Take a moment and figure out what you're really worth. Then, when you get an offer, ignore the number if it's low, and counteroffer for what you're really worth.
#2 - Job hopping will change the kind of job offers you'll get. If you've been changing jobs every 4 months, you're going to get hired by people who have a short-term interest in you. If you show that you're committed to a job for 4 years at a time, you'll get hired by places that are looking to keep you around a long time.
#3 - If you LIKE changing jobs frequently, become a contractor! People will hire you expecting you to be there 6 months, and you'll get to try out a whole range of places. This will probably be a good thing for you until you figure out what you really want. Plus, if you decide to settle down, all you have to say is all the short jobs you did were contracts, and no one will count it against you.
#4 - Being a job hopper isn't inherently bad as long as you're representing your intentions truthfully, but don't be surprised if you end up having to seriously pay your dues to change your image if you decide you want to work somewhere more committed to YOU in the future.
Switching jobs often is only a bad thing if your resume shows that you do it consistently. Personally I don't mind if a prospective worker has a lot of jobs on his or her resume, but I *do* mind if they don't have one or two that they stayed at for several years - it tells me one of two things:
1. You're incompetent and moved from job to job because you had to, either because you got fired or because you left right before someone let you go.
2. You're only in it for the money and could care less about what we're doing.
#1 concerns me for obvious reasons, #2 concerns me because a. even the best engineer is a drain on the project for the first six months due to training overhead (you may be brilliant, but you DON'T know what we're doing or how we do things), b. when you leave *I* have to take up your slack until the new guy comes up to speed, and c. the rest of us DO care about what we're doing.
So my advice is this: find a nice balance between your paycheck and working on something you actually LIKE DOING, and then stay there for awhile even if someone else will pay you more. I just turned away a guy who is a brilliant programmer but who hasn't held a job for more than a year since 1995 - instead, I hired someone who was less technically qualified but had the good sense to ask about the longevity of the position because he hated switching jobs... and he had a history of sticking around. I treat my people well, I expect them to do the same for me.
Financially speaking, you also need to consider two things:
1. Switching jobs rapidly significantly lowers your credit score as well as making lenders think you're a flake, which will push the APR on any money you borrow through the roof. You may not think this matters, but if you buy a house or a car the penalty can amount to many thousands of dollars a year. If you don't use credit, that's not a problem... but if (like me) you can borrow money under the rate of inflation it's a huge benefit.
2. Many employee benefits (401K matching, long-term incentives, etc.) don't vest unless you're with a company for 3-5 years, so switching jobs often can incur a hidden cost of tens of thousands of dollars per year. You probably won't see this immediately on your paycheck but you'll feel it at retirement time.
HTH.
Beauty is just a light switch away.
I've got to admit, though, I feel a little disloyal at this point.
Why? Do you think they're loyal to you? If you think that, you've got another thought comin'.
Wansu, th' chinese sailor