Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't think job hopping is the problem. From what I understand, most recruiters think there is something wrong with people who have been at a job for more then 2 years now i.e. they are not desirable to anyone else.
I think some of this depends on the field and your previous employer. I had much more than 2 years experience but my previous employer was a major player in my industry and I gained invaluable experience during that tenure. When recruiters see my resume they go "gaga" over it. About 90% have made a comment about how rare that is and how their clients will love that.
Of course, I'm not sure too many recruiters are in the business of beating up their meal tickets either.
But you can get stagnant in the market, miss out on growth opportunities, etc. That's not always the case, it just depends.
That's the beauty of the employment world...what is one person's strength is another's weakness, and vice versa.
notice how he isn't "job hopping" back to the first $17/hr contract job?
he isn't out of options, he just doesn't want to take those options.
He probably hit the top end of the salary cap for his skill set, meaning he's priced himself out of the market without gaining more skills or finding someone to play ball with him
That's a creative activity. Employers generally find creative people disgusting. They tolerate them because they need them. But they're always looking for reasons to get rid of them.
The main problem with creative people is that their productivity can hardly be measured, much less predicted. Entrepreneurs and executives thrive on predicting and measuring. Putting them together with creative people is like grinding the gears of a vehicle with a manual transmission.
The reason it's hard to measure the productivity of creative people is that the work that goes into it is largely invisible. As a general rule, the busier a creative person looks, the less creative that person is being, because people look busy when they're doing rote work or work that's cut out for them. Creative work involves more seeming idleness, thinking about problems, etc. You can't measure that because you can't know what the person is thinking. So you can't actually tell how much work something is going to be, if it's really creative activity.
The best way for a software developer to advance is to become an entrepreneur and focus on a cohesive set of applications that share code and effort. When you're an entrepreneur, the market is your boss, and you're never unemployed, even if your boss is mean and sometimes doesn't pay you.
and had no plans to leave my current job until I realized it was unstable (company went public, started reorganizing, downsizing, my division is in the crosshairs).
I started applying for other jobs, but am getting no responses, I'm sure because they see that I've job-hopped too much. It kinda sucks because I feel like success in the modern economy requires lots of job hopping to reach the top of the ladder if you're not able to start out on the top of it.
I don't think that job-hopping is as much of a problem as you think it is. You might not be able to top $82K a year just yet and maybe that's what you're running up against. And don't forget that once you get up to that level, jobs are a lot harder to come by and land. Keep going. Don't worry!
it's called stagnation... If he wants to stop there, fine, but he didn't "win" anything. He has the option to gain more skills and thus earn more money, or stay put.
it's called stagnation... If he wants to stop there, fine, but he didn't "win" anything. He has the option to gain more skills and thus earn more money, or stay put.
He's been working two years. Stagnation seems a bit premature to worry about.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.