> If you get a $20k increase every 2 years starting from $160k by hopping jobs, that's way more than your yearly 2%.
This isn't how it works. The $180K is the max I could get in my industry, and that's because the previous max in 2014 or so of $140K (which I did get) is basically tied to inflation or about 2.5%-3%. So while I've been getting 1.5%-2% raises for 7-8 years, I've been missing out on that extra 1.5%, which is where the extra $20K comes from that other companies might offer.
But if I took a job at $180K, I'm again up against the salary ceiling in my city and industry. There is no $20K raise to be had after another 1-2 years by jumping again. At best, I might get the full inflation rate raises, instead of being lowballed by a percent or two, and which the difference accumulates to a large $20K or so jump only after 6-7 years more.
> There's also a risk staying in the same company for very long: if you keep doing the same, using the same tech, you can become complacent and your skills irrelevant. At which point staying at your company is not really a choice anymore.
This is definitely true at most corporate tech departments. However, in the contracting world you can jump around to completely different projects and learn a lot of new technologies. So in that sense, I feel I'm okay. The big issue is that you're not exposed to best practices and large scales that you'd see at FAANG. But it's not as bad as being stuck on a single codebase in a single language and framework with a single CI pipeline for 7 years.
How do you know that for a fact? I think you hint at this a bit in your previous comments, but if your city / field are small to the point that every employer is like any other and that there's no variance in compensation, you're SOL. One way to solve this is remote work, if applicable to your field.
This isn't how it works. The $180K is the max I could get in my industry, and that's because the previous max in 2014 or so of $140K (which I did get) is basically tied to inflation or about 2.5%-3%. So while I've been getting 1.5%-2% raises for 7-8 years, I've been missing out on that extra 1.5%, which is where the extra $20K comes from that other companies might offer.
But if I took a job at $180K, I'm again up against the salary ceiling in my city and industry. There is no $20K raise to be had after another 1-2 years by jumping again. At best, I might get the full inflation rate raises, instead of being lowballed by a percent or two, and which the difference accumulates to a large $20K or so jump only after 6-7 years more.
> There's also a risk staying in the same company for very long: if you keep doing the same, using the same tech, you can become complacent and your skills irrelevant. At which point staying at your company is not really a choice anymore.
This is definitely true at most corporate tech departments. However, in the contracting world you can jump around to completely different projects and learn a lot of new technologies. So in that sense, I feel I'm okay. The big issue is that you're not exposed to best practices and large scales that you'd see at FAANG. But it's not as bad as being stuck on a single codebase in a single language and framework with a single CI pipeline for 7 years.