sansBer in
Software Engineer a year ago
why should I stay at a company for longer than one to two years?
it's the norm to move around these days but my seniors suggest staying longer (3-4 years). opinions?

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sansBerSoftware Engineer a year ago
ty for the indep answer. my gut says to stay because i have no big complaints. i just see a lot of thread saying 1-2 years then move to get a salary raise. i am close to 1.5 years now so i think i will stay unless something changes. my work is interesting enough, not innovative or cutting edge.
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For example, if you like your current company, have interesting work and like your team/manager, and they support your career goals (internal promotion and salary increases), then I don't see why staying 3-4 years or more is bad. It also looks very good to be somewhere for a while and then get a major promotion and continue on. Shows you can really do solid work and other people recognize that. However, if at two years you see only dead ends at your company then unforunate reality is it's usually much easier to get a big promotion by switching companies. I would say 2 years is not too short, especially in early stages of your career. It can be a red flag to people if you do a bunch of jumps in a row that only last 1 year or especially 6 months or less. But staying 1.5-2yrs somewhere is generally minimum to communicate that you were successful at the job but that you decided to leave as opposed to getting let go or there being some issue. Much later in your career and if you're in higher positions or management, you'll want to stay longer as you have more long term responsibilities.
So in sum, if you like your current place and it's all good, especially given current market, it makes sense to stay longer. If you have issues with your current place or have no way to get real promotions/raises, then best way to do that is switching jobs.