When a professional should plan to leave a job ?

Question

Hi All,

I don't know whether this should be asked or not but I think it happens with every programmer in his/her career.

The question is when should someone start for looking another job.

Some guys remain in one company for 10-15-20 years, mostlay in Europe.

But if we see the trend in India guys are changing their jobs only in 1-2 years.

If it's happening in India then there must be something behind it.

So, I want to know the impacts on someone's career of changing jobs frequently.

Please share your experiences.

Answer 1

While there is mutual understanding between the employer and employee every person will stay with the company. It mainly includes Salary, Working Environment.

Answer 2

In India its the salary that attracts people to jump from one company to company. Also people feel that jumping from companies in 2/3 years will make them grow faster as most of the companies will hire you for a post which is better than the current one.

Being said that, not all Indians jump companies frequently. I am an Indian and work with the same company for the past 5 years and have no plans of moving in the near future. :)

In my opinion its only the Salary which makes Indians to jump companies frequently. Moreover there are more IT jobs than skilled people here.

In other countries Jobs are considered as "Government Jobs" in India. You get once and you stay till you retire and you have a feeling that you are safe. But its the other way round here. Companies need you and they are ready to pay. According to me 3 years would be fine in a company because the salary review will not increase your salary much where as when you jump you can expect a hike of 30-40% and in some case 100-200% ;-)

Please note this is my personal opinion based on my experience in Indian IT field.

Answer 3

When I'm reviewing a candidate's resume, I get scared if I see only 1-2 year positions. If some longer runs are in there, too (3-5 years, say), then it's less suspicious.

What I would worry about is the perception that you put on a good show at first, but over time, people start to recognize your limitations and thus you move on before anything bad can happen. As long as you have a way to demonstrate that's not the case and that you can stick around for the right opportunity, nothing to worry about.

Answer 4

This is perhaps not the right question to be posted on StackOverflow, but still...

A lot of Software Engineers in India are into the profession not by choice, but force or inaction on their part! They get into Computer Science related Graduate courses because everybody else seems to be doing it, or because of parental pressure. Many do not like their job and are almost perpetually dissatisfied with their work-life. Such people are rarely self motivated enough to upgrade their skills with time. This coupled with plenty of job opportunities in India allows them to fish for higher salaries/perks and probably that alluring job satisfaction by job hopping.

That said, this is not the only reason for frequent job hopping!

Answer 5

Job Satisfaction, Salary and Work Environment

Answer 6

I think it depends on many things, not just salary, I once left a company I was working to another for a little less salary (though more perks) because I really needed fresh air.

If you are a developer who enjoy what you do, you look at many other things, the working environment, culture, the people, the opportunities for learning and growing either as a professional, as a person or even economically, etc.

Me in particular, I've been in two jobs after I finished school, and now I am working from home as a freelance/independent contractor.

Answer 7

Here's my recommendation. You should move when you're looking for an opportunity that your current employer can't or won't fulfill. Exceptional circumstances aside, you should stay with a company until you've achieved the goal you set out for yourself to begin with.

For example, when you accept your first job out of college, your goal might be "gain a few years of experience on a large project." Or it might be "gain some experience building large web applications." etc.

Beyond that first job, you might want to try a new area. If you've been working on games, you might be interested in web or enterprise. If you've been working on web, you might be interested in rich client apps. If you're in a small company, it would make sense to leave the company to get that chance. You need to keep moving forward.

At a larger company (google, apple, MS, etc), I would think the main reason to leave would be to expand your influence. You may want to be a manager or work in a startup where you have more control. Those are great reasons to leave.

And myself, working at a large company, I see many senior people coming back after trying their hand in a startup for a handful of years. It's often a huge career boost for them. They come back with a proven ability to manage a product.

Typically, I wouldn't say it's really worth your time to change jobs if you're happy. You don't need extra names on your resume. More years is better. When you change jobs, make sure there's a GOOD reason. That might be professional, it might be personal. But you shouldn't be jumping from company to company. Set yourself good 3-5 year goals when you accept a job.