Switching Jobs

I was reading an article the other day that suggested that unlike in the past, many people switch jobs very frequently these days and it is having some adverse effects not only on themselves but on the job market as well. At one time it wasn't unusual for someone to get a job and then make a career out of it for the rest of their lives. I know of some people who started off literally at the bottom of the ladder (one could even say underneath it completely) and they have managed to work their way up to the top through a combination of hardwork or connections. Is it for everyone? Who knows, but it's definitely something that should be considered rather than ridiculed.

I remember thinking when I got my first job out of college that I hoped to be with the company for some time at least. I wasn't considering it the place to spend the rest of my career but I figured it was a place to get some good experience and gain some insight into the field I was pursuing. It wasn't the greatest of positions (neither was it paying me anywhere close to what I should have been earning) but it was worth it for the experience it gave me and the work it exposed me to. Though I could have switched jobs after a few months for better pay (as many people did who joined that company after me), I was pleased to stay in place simply because I ended up in positions where I was given more work than would usually have been passed to someone of my relatively limited experience. In short order, I was getting raises and pay increases more in line with what I should have earned from the beginning. Still and all, I was sure that I was doing the right thing.

I'm sure there are others who may consider me a sucker for doing that or for staying with that company for as long as I did but I saw that some of my friends who were in IT (which was booming at that time due to Y2K tensions) were switching jobs faster than one could change socks. It seemed like they were moving from one company to the next as soon as it appeared that pay rates were going up at another place. What this told me was that there was more loyalty to the paycheck than the company; more loyalty to oneself rather than anyone else. I think it's important to have somewhat of a 'selfish' focus when looking for work because the pay you earn is what will sustain you. If you're not getting what you need to maintain a proper cost of living, then what's the point?

What happened afterwards though is what used to worry me when I would consider moving from one company to another on a regular basis and that was that companies would soon think of you as a person who is 'disloyal' or quick to change. What I mean is that they wouldn't necessarily consider you as an individual who would reveal company secrets but who wouldn't stick around if the pay was higher someplace else. The inevitable happened then and that was that once the Y2K paranoia passed and once systems were upgraded to meet standards, there wasn't a real need to maintain high-priced coders so they were given the proverbial 'heave-ho' and tossed at the wayside. The mad scramble that followed led to many realizing that they couldn't continue to ask for hundreds of thousands of dollars annually if they didn't have any other skills outside of upgrading systems from Y2K.

A common problem was that someone who switched at so regular a basis basically set themselves up for difficulties later on because companies would look for experience and though they may have worked for high power companies in their particular industry, the relatively limited time that they actually worked on things meant in the experience category was not enough to justify pay, their limited time with companies meant to companies that they would have to pay out a lot for a 'short-term' investment so that added up to people who expected a lot but wouldn't necessarily give back in return. Now that the job market is again slowing a bit in some industries, the people looking for jobs who have jumped hither and tither are finding it harder and harder to move.