> You don't need a resume if you stay at the same employer for 40+ years. Win-win!
I you're happy there, why not. Unfortunately over the last few years I got the impression that loyal employees don't necessasirly see the appreciation they deserve by their employers.
Getting a raise often becomes increasingly hard once you're working there for long enough. Switching jobs or even companies is often the best option to get a raise or better benefits.
most of the companies nowadays consider all their engineering hires will stay at most two years, so they think giving a raise or promotion is a pointless action and waste of money.
This is self-perpetuating. It's been my experience that moving companies has gotten me +20% in pay for doing the same work with the same title. If employers assume people will leave after 2 years and hence don't give promotions and give paltry CoL raises then obviously why would people stay? So these employers won't give raises to their current workers but will happily give new employees +20% every 2 years just for swapping names on their Resume? Obviously something doesn't add up here.
Exactly. I like my current job at $COMPANY, but I also know that they have a pretty negative procedure for raises and promotions, even though you do exceptional job. So, is anybody hiring? :)
They prefer to bring in/hire more candidates from other countries and pay them less than what current employees ask for them, because it is cheaper.
From the other side, it seems like staying at one company for say...more than 5 years tops?... is considered a red flag. See that earlier HN thread about "expert beginners" for one reasoning.
I am starting year 6 at my company, which would fit your description of big pond. I'm also painfully aware I'm stagnating.
That said, unless I completely change my role and/or specialization, I don't see any room to grow.
I'm a frontend engineer with some fullstack mixed in. Going backend would certainly be an interesting change, but it would be at the cost of atrophying frontend skill/knowledge, the end result being it would be harder to get a future FE (atrophy) or BE (beginner/mediocre skillset) job. Especially since companies these days seem to be creating FE specific interview tracks.
> unless I completely change my role and/or specialization
That would be the point, yes.
I definitely did not mean to imply that spending 6 years doing the same thing at a big company is in any way better than doing the same at a small company.
My point was that since a large company likely does allow you to completely change your role, domain and specialization without quitting, you should look at years-per-role and not years-per-company.
Don't the majority of FAANG engineers cap out at Sr. Engineer and that's a title you can get just a few years out of College? So are +/-50% of Google engineers stagnant?
For companies as prestigious as FAANG, I think such rules are thrown out the window. Assuming you choose to leave, you probably will have no shortage of companies asking you to come work for them.
I you're happy there, why not. Unfortunately over the last few years I got the impression that loyal employees don't necessasirly see the appreciation they deserve by their employers.
Getting a raise often becomes increasingly hard once you're working there for long enough. Switching jobs or even companies is often the best option to get a raise or better benefits.