cuz after 2 years you've basically already learned how to do your job and how to do it well. but chances are ur never gonna get any meaningful payrise or promotion without fukking off to some better paying job

if you haven't secured some cushy well paid job by your 40's the tour is likely over

Best advice I ever got as a mechanic was tool boxes have wheels for a reason.

Learn new stuff, earn more money, or move on somewhere that you can do one, the other or preferably both. This applies to any career.

Have you seen the job market right now, brah.

I recommend job-hopping at the 2 year mark and looking for at least a 10% increase in salary. You can't afford to stay at the same pay grade in this hyper-inflated Biden economy.

Also, keep in mind that's it's okay to job-hop back to a previous company if they're willing to pay you more.

Your goal in life is to maximize pay while minimizing stress.

but but but what about all that matching 401kcels on here

Most plebs don't even realized their getting fleeced through 401K management fees... They'd acquire more wealth investing in real estate rental properties.

Been at the same company for 10 years.

My buddy job hops

I make 200K+

He makes more than me

He was let go during covid

I have seniority over most

So, gives and takes.

I agree, but I'd say closer to 3 is good too.

However I'd say go for more than a 10% increase. Aim for a 25% increase each leap - and it's totally attainable.

Pretend you make more than you do, ask them to beat your "current income" a little bit, etc.

Yeah you generally need to hop to get decent increases, no risk no reward

Ive been with the same tech company, and went thru two rounds of yearly comp increase getting ~20% each time. Ive taken on a lot of extra projects tho. Im not going anywhere for 10%, we also dont pay for health coverage and its probably the best of any industry.

Good point

OP I used to live by this.

My first job after college I was making $60k, overtime mandatory without any overtime pay, and also literally zero bonuses and a crappy 401k plan (up to 1.5% contribution, FIVE YEAR VESTMENT LOL). I eventually got promoted to $66k, and didn't really see myself getting any promotions any time soon (at the time, the company policies were chit tier regarding promotions).

I got an offer at a larger corpo and they put me at $70k but with hella awesome bonuses and overtime eligibility. I think that first year there I made over $90k gross, so it was significant. Eventually I was there ~3 years, base pay was around like $83k or so I think. I then interviewed elsewhere, got an offer of like $120k but with worse bonuses, worse vacation days, no overtime pay, and I'd have to be "on call." I was ready to accept, told my company deuces, and then they hit me with a counter offer... I accepted. Base pay went up to $112k. Now I'm currently projecting $160k+ for year of 2023.

Company hop, or threaten to leave and get a counter offer. This is the way. Went from $60k gross annual, to projecting $160k gross annual, in 6 years.

Congrats, this is the way to go.

I've had 3 different jobs in 2022, kept looking til I landed somewhere good.

Ended up working 3 hours less a week, extra vacation weeks, and a 10k raise.

Id still be toiling away at the first place if I didn't think better was out there. I was working with a guy who was in the same role stressing for two years. He was overwhelmed with work, errors, pulling extra hours. I now do a third of the work he does and make 10k more and have 3 weeks more time off.