Finding the right Career Path/Job Prospects in EE

[gmax137]

@lolozguz I suggest you print out this thread, then fold it up and put it in an envelope marked, "do not open until Christmas 2032." Put it in your sock drawer and keep it there everytime you move.

I hope this doesn't come across as snarky, I really think this would be an interesting experience.

 

[Joshy]

I'm sure the 10 year thing would be a bit difficult to keep up this charade, but is this recommendation any good for the first 5-6 years? That doesn't seem like such a stretch for an early-career employee. I'm curious. I played around a little bit with the mathematics, and it does look like the job hopper gets a little bit of a competitive edge with pay except in the case of a totally stellar employee who squeezes in a fast promotion early into their career and the stellar employee job hops at least once. I tried many scenarios, but I'll post a two prominent cases that I tried.

I do admittedly make some assumptions based on what I've seen in my past job the typical raise ea. year is about 3% (most people I talk to refer to it as cost of living COL), and promotion is about 11%. I assume the person wont hop unless they are getting a 15% raise. I understand this isn't always the case... I'm just making an approximation to get some rough numbers.

Here's the case where the stellar employee squeezes in an early promotion and job hops at least once. This is where the job hopper loses a little bit. It doesn't matter too much that the job hopper gets stuck in the 3rd job and takes a long while to get promoted because they are already behind the loyal employee.

Now if I take away that early promotion. It loos like... hmm... it might be possible this 2 year thing... very interesting result, and the job hopper still wins even if they don't get any more promotions within 5 years of their last hop, but it does look like the loyal employee is getting paid more and could eventually catch up assuming that the job hopper gets no more promotions or doesn't hop again after 5 years.

I think if the job hopper gets at least one promotion, then they are in really good shape.

Interesting discussion. I personally wouldn't encourage anyone to purposefully hop, but I can kind of see why this 2 year things looks attractive at least from zeroth order approximations. I think if a person can hop every 2 years with a 15% raise, though, then they are probably... admittedly... they probably are pretty talented or can at least convince people they are talented, and I'd be really surprised if they never got any promotions.

 

[gwnorth]

The problem with job hopping frequently, while it may result in quick salary gains in the beginning, eventually if you do it too often prospective employers may be reluctant to hire someone who they see not willing to make a longer term commitment. Why go through all the time, effort, and cost to hire and train someone who is just going to leave their job in 2 years leaving the employer back at square one? Better would be to land at an employer that provides the opportunity to grow in the job, acquire new skills, and move up in seniority for a longer term before needing to make the next career jump. Also many benefits employers provide increase with time (health, pension, stock options, vacation) and frequent jumping, unless you can negotiate it as part of your new package, is going to have you starting at the bottom of seniority every single time. The other thing to consider is that the ability to make frequent employment shifts also depends on the economy. Easier to do when there is a worker shortage. Much harder to do during a recession.

 

[gmax137]

@Joshy that's an interesting analysis. Two points:

(1) I don't think the 15% hop raise is realistic. Maybe once in a while but not consistently.

(2) Personally, the nature of the work is more important to me than the pay (within reason). Hopping to a more interesting job makes more sense than simply optimizing pay rate over ten years.

and (3) if one is really willing to hop around so much, you might do even better as a contract worker - "hired" in at a higher rate for short or indefinite duration. Subject to termination "whenever." I know people who have done that in the electric power industry. If they're good at it, they gain a thing the "loyal employee" may lack - namely they see how different companies approach the same problems, and can say "we tried that over at Brand X, and it didn't work because..."

 

[lolozguz]

@lolozguz I suggest you print out this thread, then fold it up and put it in an envelope marked, "do not open until Christmas 2032." Put it in your sock drawer and keep it there everytime you move.

I hope this doesn't come across as snarky, I really think this would be an interesting experience.

That would be interesting, I'll give it a shot.

The problem with job hopping frequently, while it may result in quick salary gains in the beginning, eventually if you do it too often prospective employers may be reluctant to hire someone who they see not willing to make a longer term commitment. Why go through all the time, effort, and cost to hire and train someone who is just going to leave their job in 2 years leaving the employer back at square one? Better would be to land at an employer that provides the opportunity to grow in the job, acquire new skills, and move up in seniority for a longer term before needing to make the next career jump. Also many benefits employers provide increase with time (health, pension, stock options, vacation) and frequent jumping, unless you can negotiate it as part of your new package, is going to have you starting at the bottom of seniority every single time. The other thing to consider is that the ability to make frequent employment shifts also depends on the economy. Easier to do when there is a worker shortage. Much harder to do during a recession.

You're assuming that the employer cares about that worker; I've known lots of people who stayed loyal to their job and still got the boot, even when they were producing and giving it their all.