How frequently to switch companies for salary growth?

I Personally believe that, a switch should be made every 2 years. Reason : In a span of 2 yrs you have a fair share of knowledge about the current company and your skill sets. If you believe you are undervalued as per your skills, jump off the board. Coming to the point of matching compensation in the current company. What's the point after putting papers and then matching it. If they are willing to pay the same amount they could have given much before not after resigning. Never ever stay back after resignation, they start treating you like a slave.

My take would be, if you’re early in your career, switch companies to get wide breadth of experience. Stick to a company you like if factors like pay, growth, leadership are good.

2 yrs should be considered the ideal interval. But few stick to this ideal. Most folks end up spending more than 2 yrs, due to comfort zone, luck factor and salary matching by existing organisation. Also, contrary to the view, switching frequently (before 2 yrs period) doesn’t affect adversely. I know an average guy from tier 3 college, who switched so frequently that his average after 7 yrs, was 1 switch every 1.5 yrs. And he had made into one great product based company too (left that one too). He had a knack for cracking interview. Talking of salary matching by existing organisation, no point of accepting it, since one put lots of efforts in preparing for interviews and cracking them. Also, most of the times, you decide to switch not only for package, but for various other factors- work culture, diverse tech experience etc. I would say, one should revoke the resignation, only if the offer is not only matched but also countered with 30% higher amount, and that too assuming that work culture was not the factor for the switching decision.

From the other side of the table I can say those who switch frequently have never seen a full review and been there to experience the fruits and problems of past decisions. Generally are bookish and hence can crack interviews but are poor when it comes to practical application of book knowledge due to lack of experience. This is a vicious circle and as experience in yoe grows, underperformance compare to peers makes them switch again and this is a vicious loop. Have seen 3-4 cases personally and learnt from it and catch them by crafting interviews away from theory and towards practical thinking and they flunk.

Lol. I would be very wary to hire a jumper, esp for senior position, he/she is gonna jump in 1-2 years, what is the point of hiring and investing time anyway?

Personally I feel a frequent jump history is a red flag. For someone to understand what a complex product means, and deliver something meaningful, it takes a minimum 3.5 to 4 years. Those jumping in a short time appear hyper greedy, or have an incompatibility with the project/team, or have attitude issues, or plainly instable. If they have proved that they can jump ships repeatedly, they can jump mine too. I would think twice before considering an offer.

Unless you joined a really toxic env company, I believe 3 years is a good time to stick with a company. You can understand your role, and the kind of work you enjoy.

People are giving good suggestions for how often you should switch for better pay. But here's my suggestions for you 1. Don't optimise yourself for a better pay. Bcz with great power comes great responsibilities. And if you can't handle those, even if you are earning 5 digits every month, your mental health will be so bad that you just want to quit or take a verrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyy long break from all the mess around. 2. Also, analyse the job market first. In a market like how it is now, job switching can be a mixed experience (good and bad) 🙂.

If you are switching for the same skillset after 2-3 years, you are setting up to get fired like the people writing on their LinkedIn .. I had warned about this 5 years back when I was leading a team in a startup to my juniors but they kept telling me I am not ambitious enough ....well now they are getting laid off with 6 to 8 years of experience and skill in only one domain and no one is touching their resume looking at their pay... And they are calling me to help find a job ... I would say quit only if you get a role which can multiply your skillset or you are getting into a domain that is booming in market or to a company that can give you a fortune in stocks.... Everything else is a lose lose proposition... And regarding money look at it like a cricket match, if you have the skillset you can accelerate your earnings when you want... But trying to slog every over is setting up for failure

Two years minimum. Keep in mind that you don’t switch around too much, or even when you do switch, it should be for a promotion, or a bigger package. HRs do look at your resume n work experience. If they see you company hopping every two years with no reasonable explanation, that’ll be a stinker for them.

Loads of folks working for big orgz at fancy designations and hailing from tier 1 colleges are seen jumping almost every year (courtesy linkedin). I think the jumper philosophy is losing it's prominence slowly. Although at 3yoe maybe too soon for me to form an opinion however the peer data says otherwise. PS - that's even tempting as most of these jumpers are also paid really well