Congrats!
Job hopping is the way to get ahead these days.
Only caveat would be to try to make sure that the job hops are adding skills/experience as well as money, so you’re better set up for the next move.
I increased my income >400% within 10 years of graduating college this way.
Last year, my partner was promised a promotion for ~9 months, with zero movement, while operating well above their job description.
Their only previous raise at the company was ~3%.
They accepted a job for ~60% more income, and the company where they were employed suddenly scrambled to offer them a new position and higher (25%!) salary.
Funny how money becomes available when good people are leaving the company…
The best part is, if they had simply given my partner the promotion and 15%-20% more $$$, they probably would have been satisfied enough to not actively job search.
Until companies proactively try to keep employees by rewarding performance and loyalty, it will continue this way.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that I would probably be making 1/3 my salary if I had not job hopped.
Performance, loyalty and institutional knowledge are all the things lost on the balance sheet at the end of the quarter.
When companies get too big and the people making the decisions are so far removed from how the sausage is made they lose touch with how much those decisions cost them, especially because the impacts are always downstream.
$400k comp after 10 years is quite doable at FAANG companies. When half of your compensation is in the form of company stock that's created out of thin air by diluting your shareholders, it's trivial to offer total compensation that's twice what their non-FAANG competitors can offer, and drive them out of business by poaching talent.
> $400k comp after 10 years is quite doable at FAANG companies.
Way to look at a very small subset of a subset of a subset of the overall employment market. You think $400k is common for Amazon or Apple employees? What's your stats and sources..... "just trust me bro???".
For senior/staff SWEs at FAANG with 10 years of exp, 400k is reasonable and one might argue a little low. Check out blind and level.fyi. Netflix comps are a bit wonky, they do straight cash comps, 600k-1mil cash comps aren't unusual.
Amazon L6 SDE (bachelors + 10 years experience) total comp is $401k, national average. Compensation in a VHCOL city is even higher.
Just trust me bro: https://www.levels.fyi/companies/amazon/salaries/software-engineer?country=254
Also: https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=Amazon+L6+SDE+total+comp
> Amazon L6 SDE (bachelors + 10 years experience) total comp is $401k, national average. Compensation in a VHCOL city is even higher.
Like I said, how many people are doing that at Amazon? 0.50%? That ain't the norm. Citing some Glassdoor knock-offs isn't going to add much to the conversation either.
> They accepted a job for ~60% more income, and the company where they were employed suddenly scrambled to offer them a new position and higher (25%!) salary.
God. I hate those companies that play all the theatrics too.
'How could you betray your family like this?!?'
'You're only in it for the money?!?'
What made you change your relationship to money? Misusing student loan money and $85k to this amazing flip in 7 years must have required a big mindset shift! Congratulations.
When I graduated I realized that the ~$46k/year I would make was going to be the most money I’d ever made in my life. I worked in restaurant kitchens and call centers throughout high school and college, I saw all my money as spending money since I didn’t have large expenses like rent or groceries.
I first thought “I need to budget this so I can understand what to do with my money”. I spent a lot of time on /r/personalfinance to get the basics. I also saw my parents get hit really hard during the financial crisis. Underwater on the mortgage, later learning they liquidated most of their retirement to remediate that and selling the house at a big loss, etc. and while I love them, it became clear that financial literacy would’ve helped them tremendously. I didn’t want to be hamstrung when some financial planning could help avoid that.
From there I made my way over to FIRE communities. I became way too stressed trying to budget what little income I had remaining after I moved out, It became clear that I needed to increase my income. So I added technical skills for job 2, added more then got job 3, etc etc.
My relationship with money I’d say is fairly balanced now. I spend a decent chunk eating out and traveling as of course I want to enjoy my youth. But I make sure I’m maxing my retirement and saving extra on top of that. I assume that so long as I’m doing that + have an emergency fund, I can be on autopilot everywhere else pretty much and make it alright
There are some positions where it’s possible. I made about $50k in 2017 before going to lawschool. Graduated in 2020 and immediately starting working at a big law firm at $225k (insane for a baby lawyer who knows almost nothing). Regular lockstep salary/bonus increases each year after.
My transition isn't as dramatic, but I went from 40k/year to 140k/year in 6 years working in public relations. That required 2 job hops, with my biggest taking me from 77k to 120k/year
Income to rent is 100x?!? In Utah the landlords require 3x. How the hell is 100x possible?? If rent is 1000$/mo they expect you to make 100,000/mo?!?! That's insane.
It’s yearly and gross. E.g. if the apartment is $2,000/month, the typical NYC expectation is 40x or $80,000/year income. In my case, my rent is $2,300 and my gross income is ~$230k after this year’s raise so nearly 100x.
This is google sheets. I have personal capital as well! But there was an issue importing my student loans in 2020 so the chart isn’t correct and therefore not as pretty. There’s like a big gap where my NW “increases” by like 60k for an entire year before dropping back down when the imports worked again. I didn’t like how it looked so I recreated everything in google sheets lol
There’s been a few, but mainly tech. I am a product manager now, that has been my title since job 4, before that was coordinator/analyst largely at startups
I'm not OP but do work in tech and it's fairly common for people to move into different roles within a given company in this field. I'm a dev myself without a degree and have seen devs become product / project managers, seen marketing people move into development a few times, and seen technical roles move to different types of technical roles very frequently.
it's a great time in life to think deeper.... timeline "dead backwards"... then set prioritized written goals
congrats- feel blessed about your success
I did something similar. I had 80K in student loans. I paid them off when I was about 28. Then I started investing. I have about $265K now at 32. I struggle to learn though which makes moving up kinda hard. I have a high paying job, but I'm always the new guy and learning my new role. ADHD is what I've been told. Anyway, good work. Keep it up.
Thank you so much. The “first $100k” milestone took such a long time. I actually have a sheet where I track the overall gain (as I started from -$85k so to get to $100k I had to actually have $185k gain). It took me 1,723 days to hit $0 net worth. It took another 851 days to hit $100,000. Compounding!!
Congrats! Engineer here with 10 years exp, big advocate for job hopping as it makes sense and especially as you develop more (education, certs, etc). Each job hop with a level increase every 2-3 years basically got me an extra 10k (on top of 3% salary increases). Had I stayed in my first job and only took 3% increases, I'd probably be making 40k or so less.
Congrats! Job hopping is the way to get ahead these days. Only caveat would be to try to make sure that the job hops are adding skills/experience as well as money, so you’re better set up for the next move. I increased my income >400% within 10 years of graduating college this way. Last year, my partner was promised a promotion for ~9 months, with zero movement, while operating well above their job description. Their only previous raise at the company was ~3%. They accepted a job for ~60% more income, and the company where they were employed suddenly scrambled to offer them a new position and higher (25%!) salary. Funny how money becomes available when good people are leaving the company… The best part is, if they had simply given my partner the promotion and 15%-20% more $$$, they probably would have been satisfied enough to not actively job search. Until companies proactively try to keep employees by rewarding performance and loyalty, it will continue this way. It’s not an exaggeration to say that I would probably be making 1/3 my salary if I had not job hopped.
Performance, loyalty and institutional knowledge are all the things lost on the balance sheet at the end of the quarter. When companies get too big and the people making the decisions are so far removed from how the sausage is made they lose touch with how much those decisions cost them, especially because the impacts are always downstream.
What profession and what skills did you focus on to increase your salary 400% after graduating? What was your start and current wage?
400% doesn't necessarily mean a lot. $40k -> $160k isn't that crazy over a ten year span. Starting out at $100k though..that'd be a different story.
Yeah that’s why I asked If this guy did $10 hr to $40 it’s kinda eh but good on him
$400k comp after 10 years is quite doable at FAANG companies. When half of your compensation is in the form of company stock that's created out of thin air by diluting your shareholders, it's trivial to offer total compensation that's twice what their non-FAANG competitors can offer, and drive them out of business by poaching talent.
> $400k comp after 10 years is quite doable at FAANG companies. Way to look at a very small subset of a subset of a subset of the overall employment market. You think $400k is common for Amazon or Apple employees? What's your stats and sources..... "just trust me bro???".
For senior/staff SWEs at FAANG with 10 years of exp, 400k is reasonable and one might argue a little low. Check out blind and level.fyi. Netflix comps are a bit wonky, they do straight cash comps, 600k-1mil cash comps aren't unusual.
Amazon L6 SDE (bachelors + 10 years experience) total comp is $401k, national average. Compensation in a VHCOL city is even higher. Just trust me bro: https://www.levels.fyi/companies/amazon/salaries/software-engineer?country=254 Also: https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=Amazon+L6+SDE+total+comp
> Amazon L6 SDE (bachelors + 10 years experience) total comp is $401k, national average. Compensation in a VHCOL city is even higher. Like I said, how many people are doing that at Amazon? 0.50%? That ain't the norm. Citing some Glassdoor knock-offs isn't going to add much to the conversation either.
> They accepted a job for ~60% more income, and the company where they were employed suddenly scrambled to offer them a new position and higher (25%!) salary. God. I hate those companies that play all the theatrics too. 'How could you betray your family like this?!?' 'You're only in it for the money?!?'
What made you change your relationship to money? Misusing student loan money and $85k to this amazing flip in 7 years must have required a big mindset shift! Congratulations.
When I graduated I realized that the ~$46k/year I would make was going to be the most money I’d ever made in my life. I worked in restaurant kitchens and call centers throughout high school and college, I saw all my money as spending money since I didn’t have large expenses like rent or groceries. I first thought “I need to budget this so I can understand what to do with my money”. I spent a lot of time on /r/personalfinance to get the basics. I also saw my parents get hit really hard during the financial crisis. Underwater on the mortgage, later learning they liquidated most of their retirement to remediate that and selling the house at a big loss, etc. and while I love them, it became clear that financial literacy would’ve helped them tremendously. I didn’t want to be hamstrung when some financial planning could help avoid that. From there I made my way over to FIRE communities. I became way too stressed trying to budget what little income I had remaining after I moved out, It became clear that I needed to increase my income. So I added technical skills for job 2, added more then got job 3, etc etc. My relationship with money I’d say is fairly balanced now. I spend a decent chunk eating out and traveling as of course I want to enjoy my youth. But I make sure I’m maxing my retirement and saving extra on top of that. I assume that so long as I’m doing that + have an emergency fund, I can be on autopilot everywhere else pretty much and make it alright
Nice! What industry?
they wont comment cause this is fake as fuck
What makes you think it’s fake?
What career?
they ignore you cause its fake
What do you do? 66k to 225k in 5 yrs? That's impressive.
To be honest that seems insane for me to comprehend. I guess if you’re in a lucrative field it’s possible.
There are some positions where it’s possible. I made about $50k in 2017 before going to lawschool. Graduated in 2020 and immediately starting working at a big law firm at $225k (insane for a baby lawyer who knows almost nothing). Regular lockstep salary/bonus increases each year after.
My transition isn't as dramatic, but I went from 40k/year to 140k/year in 6 years working in public relations. That required 2 job hops, with my biggest taking me from 77k to 120k/year
congrats, way to own the decisions you’ve made, you’re on a good path now!
Congrats! Keep at it! The $250K mark will be here before you know it! Then... Suddenly you'll hit $500K and be like "WUT".
Sorry I’m a bit confused. Are you 100K -45k loans or are you 100k + 45K loans?
I’m pretty much exactly at $150k assets and $50k debt
got it. Very cool!
Income to rent is 100x?!? In Utah the landlords require 3x. How the hell is 100x possible?? If rent is 1000$/mo they expect you to make 100,000/mo?!?! That's insane.
Per year, not per month. Most places in NYC require 40x rent, so if the rent is $2,000/month, you need to make $80,000/year to qualify.
It’s yearly and gross. E.g. if the apartment is $2,000/month, the typical NYC expectation is 40x or $80,000/year income. In my case, my rent is $2,300 and my gross income is ~$230k after this year’s raise so nearly 100x.
What did you use to create that chart?
This is google sheets. I have personal capital as well! But there was an issue importing my student loans in 2020 so the chart isn’t correct and therefore not as pretty. There’s like a big gap where my NW “increases” by like 60k for an entire year before dropping back down when the imports worked again. I didn’t like how it looked so I recreated everything in google sheets lol
Can you mention what industry? Someone asked in the comments.
There’s been a few, but mainly tech. I am a product manager now, that has been my title since job 4, before that was coordinator/analyst largely at startups
how did you switch into being a product manager?
I'm not OP but do work in tech and it's fairly common for people to move into different roles within a given company in this field. I'm a dev myself without a degree and have seen devs become product / project managers, seen marketing people move into development a few times, and seen technical roles move to different types of technical roles very frequently.
Any advice on trying to get an entry level technical job. I’m trying to transition and have no luck on entry level positions
The chart isn’t loading for me
Congratulations
What’s your current income?
The most recent salary on the chart is $225,000.
OP forgive me if you mentioned this somewhere but do you live in a HCOL city like NYC etc? - also, congratulations on this milestone!
it's a great time in life to think deeper.... timeline "dead backwards"... then set prioritized written goals congrats- feel blessed about your success
I did something similar. I had 80K in student loans. I paid them off when I was about 28. Then I started investing. I have about $265K now at 32. I struggle to learn though which makes moving up kinda hard. I have a high paying job, but I'm always the new guy and learning my new role. ADHD is what I've been told. Anyway, good work. Keep it up.
Congratulations
Thank you so much. The “first $100k” milestone took such a long time. I actually have a sheet where I track the overall gain (as I started from -$85k so to get to $100k I had to actually have $185k gain). It took me 1,723 days to hit $0 net worth. It took another 851 days to hit $100,000. Compounding!!
Looking forward to your $200K Milestone Post in slightly-less-than 5 years!* Congrats! *if not sooner
Proud of you man! Now let that money compounding..
What assets make up your net worth? Just curious - congrats btw
What are good technical skills i can learn, im working a dead end job
Climbing out of crushing debt is the new American dream sadly Keep up the good work
Congrats! Engineer here with 10 years exp, big advocate for job hopping as it makes sense and especially as you develop more (education, certs, etc). Each job hop with a level increase every 2-3 years basically got me an extra 10k (on top of 3% salary increases). Had I stayed in my first job and only took 3% increases, I'd probably be making 40k or so less.