Time between jobs

[derkit]

After reading the "how much do you earn" thread a few weeks ago, Mike's comment in another thread about how many jobs he's had in the past 10 years; and finally my own dilemma's I'm facing at work I pondered....

How long have you stayed in your previous jobs? I'm not directly searching for justifications of why you had a new job every 3 months (but reasons behind them would help others understand and maybe help with their own decisions).

I'll start:

1 year - finished my degree and had job at University (left as it was a 1-year term in office)
4 months - hotel night receptionist (left as I found my 1st line IT job)
8 months - 1st line IT job (left as I found my 2nd line role and had wasn't challenged any more)
18 months - 2nd line desktop support role (current, but considering leaving for step up in the company or move to a smaller business to learn more)

Hope this will be a useful thread to people (especially me )

[BosonMichael]

You need me to repost my times between jobs? I will if you need them.

[Markyboyt]

3 years - Safeway (overlapping 1 year with Apprenticeship)
5 1/2 years - BMW (3 year apprenticeship, then technician)

Dont think my experience counts towards this thread

[simongrahamuk]

I've had three IT jobs in my Career:

1st - 4 years, left due to redundancy
2nd - 4 years, left due to boredom / fresh challenge
3rd - almost a year. still there.

[Finkenstein]

Since I've started in IT "professionally" in 97, my timeline has gone like this:

1st - 2.75 years - left due to feeling stale (it was a contract house)
2nd - 3 months - it was only temporary while I was waiting for the next position to start
3rd - 1 year 1 month - left for a great opportunity close to home.
4th - 1.5 years - company was bought out so we were all laid off
5th - 8 months - left to work for former CEO of the 4th position
6th - 1 year 3 months - company went belly up and we all got laid off... obviously I'd never work for that CEO again. LOL
had a few months off here... about 6 where my wife and I opened a salon.
7th - 3.5 years - My current place of employment where I see myself staying for at least a few more years.

I used to be teased for jumping jobs so much. Now I'm pretty content.

[dmarsh26]

To be honest one job every 1-1.5 years seems pretty normal now for IT development jobs...

This is especially so if you work for smaller companies in my mind.

[hbroomhall]

I've been in my current job for nearly 10 years.....

Harry.

[BosonMichael]

Originally Posted by hbroomhall

I've been my current job for nearly 10 years.....

Harry.

You rebel!!

[hbroomhall]

Originally Posted by BosonMichael

You rebel!!

<giggle>

[zebulebu]

I've never had an IT job more than two years. I find I tend to go stale after that amount of time, so moving on at that point seems to be the best move for me. That said, however, I can see myself staying in my new job for longer than that - the money is excellent, I like the people I'm working with and there seem to be good prospects there. Of course, they could go tits-up or just lay people off as they're NASDAQ traded so everything depends on the stock price, but we'll see

[Crito]

I've been self-employed for over a decade. Some clients I've serviced on and off for years, others I dropped after just a few months. The good ones I never put on my resume or use as references as that's an open invitation for competitors to try and steal them.

[sunn]

Is this changing companies or just jobs?

1-yr Call Ctr (online gamming)
1-yr Jr. Sys. Admin (online gamming)
2-yr Int. Sys. Admin (online gamming)
3-yr Sr. Sys. Admin (online gamming)
3-mts off-work ~Resigned (Burnt out!)
1-yr PM (Financial Svcs)
2-yr NOC Manager (online gamming)
9-mts IT-Manager (Software Developer)
3-yr Sr. Telecom Analyst (Financial Svcs)

If you’re looking for the amount of time I have not been working after starting my career, it’s 3-mts when I was simply just burnt out. In total I worked 9-yrs at the online gamming org.

[dmarsh26]

I don't know why only a little time out in months in decades of time is an issue, I try to take time out at least every three years, otherwise I would burn out. Theres more to life then just work !

When I work hard I work hard, when I'm taking time out, I take time out !

[derkit]

I haven't been around recently - but thanks for the comments, I did feel that a year or two seem about a reasonable time frame before changing - I've definitely made the decision to go, so its just finding a job now