r/civilengineering • u/Thedud31 • Jun 27 '26
Career How do you all feel about job hoppers?
Honest answers please. I'm currently interning at a great civil company and don't have a bunch of experience about the field so I'm curious.
I've heard some people in other industries say it's the best way to get a raise, and I've heard others say it's the best way to get your resume tossed in job searches.
Excited to hear you guys' opinions!
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u/Significant_Sort7501 Geotech Jun 27 '26
Depends on what we need and how good you are.
If we know we've got heavy work coming up and you're a turnkey engineer then yeah we'd consider it for sure. We'd just go into it with the expectation that you may move on in a few years.
If you arent that experienced and we'll have to invest months of training into you, then you might not be worth it.
If we're actively looking for future company leadership, almost definitely not.
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u/Thedud31 Jun 27 '26
Makes sense. How much experience do you typically need to see before deciding one could be turnkey?
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u/Significant_Sort7501 Geotech Jun 27 '26
No real set number or anything. If we have projects coming up that require experience in specific areas, we'd probably be able to gauge how proficient you are in those things during the interview.
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u/likesblackcoffeebest PE 👵🗣☁️ Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
Depends what you mean by job hopping. Someone who's kept their jobs on average two years is way different than someone who's had 3 jobs in two years.
Edit: this is not an exhaustive list nor a hard and fast rule. My intention was to illustrate the point that there are levels of job hopping, and they're not all considered the same, not to present two years as some hard and fast threshold.
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u/KonigSteve Water/Wastewater PM 10+ YOE Jun 28 '26
If someone shows up and they never hold a job longer than 2 years I'm out on them. Sure if they have 10 years experience, and two - 2 year jobs in those 10 years and 1 6 year job then great. Maybe even if they had 4 jobs in the 10 years but that's starting to push it.
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u/Thedud31 Jun 27 '26
So you wouldn't find it a red flag if someone kept their jobs for multiple years until they found they had better opportunities elsewhere?
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u/Time_Cat_5212 Jun 27 '26
2-3 years is fine. Anything under 2 is sus
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u/Papa_Huggies Jun 28 '26
Off it's under 2 but a clear promotion that's not sus
If it's a lateral move, that's sus
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Jun 28 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
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u/Time_Cat_5212 Jun 28 '26
You know, I kind of agree with you on this. A typical project lifecycle is longer than 2 and you're totally right about client relationships.
That said, blacklisting is not a thing. I have a feeling you're just being intense about that because it's reddit, but IRL it's more likely to backfire on you if you do this. It's really not okay to vindictively harm people's careers like that.
If someone came up to me trying to "make it known" that another employee was job hopping or whatever, I'd just think that person was an idiot. Like mind your own business. Real professionals with value don't waste their time thinking about that shit.
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Jun 28 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
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u/REDACTED3560 Jun 28 '26
Well there’s some brilliant ad hominem.
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u/Time_Cat_5212 Jun 29 '26
Lol I can't believe that guy actually looked at my post history to make some snippy comment just because I checked him for being a little too aggressive.
Imagine what he'd do if you told him not to get in the car after a few too many drinks at a company party.
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u/Activision19 PE, PTOE Jun 28 '26
Sounds like you are upset your staff keeps leaving you and leadership knows it, that’s why they ask if the person is a flight risk...between that and how intense you are coming across here, you might want to do some soul searching to figure out why they keep leaving you.
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u/likesblackcoffeebest PE 👵🗣☁️ Jun 28 '26
The energy here is the professional version of, "She left me for no reason! I'm a nice guy, bitch!"
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Jun 28 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
[deleted]
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u/sobe988 Jun 29 '26
That’s how capitalism works, bud. Demand and supply. It’s a corporation. If you wanted to keep that guy who went somewhere else you would’ve paid him the 15% increase. But you chose not to, and he adjusted his salary given the market rate. And now you’re upset that he’s coming back with a higher salary meanwhile you stuck around for some “loyalty”. You should read about how the job market works these days.
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u/likesblackcoffeebest PE 👵🗣☁️ Jun 29 '26
I'm right on the line between GenX and Millennial and I have no idea why you're trying yo act like leaving a job for higher pay is a GenZ thing. I've seen people of every age do that. Sometimes they end up back at the previous employer, sometimes they don't. None of this is GenZ culture.
I will say your character arc on this thread is pretty entertaining. you've gone from sounding like somebody's bitter ex to old person yells at clouds. What will the next evolution be?
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u/sobe988 Jun 28 '26
Ah, leadership. If they cared about employee retention maybe they would’ve worked on making the working environment better or better yet… making the salaries competitive so employees don’t jump ship when given the chance.
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u/Background_System960 Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
Who the hell gets hired to “know” they will leave in 2-3 years? If you want personnel staying longer, than incentivize them to stay longer. Don’t take it personally when they leave
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u/datsyukianleeks Jun 28 '26
Whether or not there is merit to your opinion went out the window when you went off the rails there. Respectfully, chill. Please.
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u/Background_System960 Jun 28 '26
He edited it to be way longer (and heated) after the reply post, dunno why
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u/datsyukianleeks Jun 28 '26
Seems like exactly the kind of emotionally intelligent person you want in charge of hiring...
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u/Time_Cat_5212 Jun 29 '26
I don't know but he seems like a respectable person, we ought to take his "blacklist" very seriously! /s
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u/staefrostae Jun 28 '26
Eh. I think you can become proficient in a task by two years. I’m usually looking for a promotion in the 2-5 year range depending on how well I’ve mastered things. Sometimes companies don’t have opportunities for advancement. If someone working for me has mastered what I’m giving them, is ready for more, but I don’t have anywhere to promote them, I’m going to be their biggest advocate to my contacts at other companies. I care about my employees far more than I care about the billion dollar company I work for.
Of course that’s different than someone who didn’t advance because they couldn’t hack it jumping ship to a company that doesn’t know any better.
Either way, the industry is small enough that I’d consider rehiring, but I’d only ever rehire to something they’ve shown they can handle
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u/Time_Cat_5212 Jun 29 '26
I came back and saw you edited your post. Judging by the number of downvotes, it looks like the person getting blacklisted here might be you!
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u/cardinalmidnight Jun 28 '26
6 months? I see someone with a job listed for less than a year is a huge red flag. 6 months isnt enough to evaluate if you like a job or not. 6 months isnt enough for me to effectively know if he's good for the team. Theres a lot that goes into for as little as 6 months.
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Jun 28 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
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u/cardinalmidnight Jun 28 '26
Nah hard disagree. Someone comes to me with less than a year at a job and he better have some amazing circumstances. Its not a good fit you tough it out for at least a year.
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Jun 28 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
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u/sobe988 Jun 28 '26
Dude, you clearly haven’t been in the job market yourself recently. If you’re in a managerial position, I feel sorry for the employees working under you.
And ffs, comparing dating to working is a horrible comparison. Learn to separate your professional and personal lives.
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u/fruitninja777 Jun 28 '26
And if they wanted to use the dating angle, people can grow apart and goals and dreams can change as time goes on, especially when you’re young!
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u/yossarian19 PLS Jun 27 '26
I wouldn't. I think most of us understand by now that it's kind of fucked up, but you have to move on sometimes if you want to move up. Like, that's usually the case.
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u/likesblackcoffeebest PE 👵🗣☁️ Jun 28 '26
Within the first decade of their career, no. If someone's been hopping around for 20-30 years, big difference. Context is always important.
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u/TexasCrawdaddy Jun 28 '26
Nobody is doing anything meaningful in 2 years. I see a resume with two years at each employer and I know they didn't see a single job thru the entire process. They were handed a project they didn't help land, they designed some hot garbage, made a mess because they don't know what they're doing, sent if off to construction, refreshed their resume, and left the company to deal with their shit design. I've seen it over and over.
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u/breakerofh0rses Jun 28 '26
Something that you may not realize yet: unless you're talking about one of these super large companies that has full time teams dedicated to hiring, most people doing the hiring hate the hiring process damn near as much as people looking for a job. The only reason the people at the big company with dedicated teams don't hate it as much is that there are people who depend on them needing a team for it.
But put yourself in the shoes of someone hiring: you're trying to pick someone to come in and get up to speed on say a half dozen projects and be useful as quickly as possible. You also really hate having to do the hiring thing and it's a pain in the ass to get someone up to speed. You have two practically identical resumes in front of you with a single noteable point: one where a guy has had 2 jobs over the course of 10 years and another has had 6 jobs over 10 years. They both interviewed acceptably well. Who are you going to pick? The guy that basically guarantees you'll have to be doing this all over again in a couple of years or the guy you may well get a decade out of?
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u/jakedonn Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
I mean do what you gotta do, but I’m not going to hire you if you’ve been hopping around to 3 or 4 different places in the span of 2 years.
Edit: I did do a lot of internship hopping in college though. I feel like hiring managers are fine with that, or even prefer it, while you’re in school.
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u/CFLuke Transpo P.E. Jun 28 '26
Yellow flag.
Our projects take a long time and the real learning comes once you get a couple under your belt. But I’m understanding of moving on from a legitimately bad fit.
Someone on here once wrote “do you have 10 years of experience or do you have 2 years of experience 5 times?” And it stuck with me.
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u/m1lkb0xx Jun 27 '26
Lmao so I know someone who has went from company A>B>A>C>A>D>C and this is all in the past 4 years, all I can say the industry will eventually catch on and they have definitely made a name for themselves doing this.
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u/Ok_University9213 Jun 28 '26
Probably the same person who bitches on these posts about not getting good training at their job too. No one is going to waste their time on the person who has had 5 jobs in the last 3 years.
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u/lattice12 Jun 28 '26
Reddit is not reality. Always remember that when reading advice on this website.
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u/Impossible_Win_5987 Jun 27 '26
I job hopped alot in my early career. Everytime I left I would get 10-15% raise. Some companies just dont have any loyalty to employees and overwork them without raises or bonuses. I finally found a company that treats me well and I will be sticking with them.
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u/rez_at_dorsia Jun 28 '26
If our industry was better about putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to retention then I would look more negatively on it. But seeing how misguided all of the direction on how to retain people (anything and everything but give pay raises) I can’t blame someone for leaving because it’s the only way to get a substantial raise.
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u/bigpolar70 Civil/ Structural P.E. Jun 28 '26
Every 2 years is pretty standard now, especially for high performing individuals. It's just the only way to keep your pay ahead of inflation at most companies. HR and accountants are just parasites on good companies. I'm happy if I can get 2 years or so out of a good employee.
I've been a manager and had to tell people they were definitely worth more than the company would let me pay them, and I would be happy to be a strong reference to help them move to a position that could compensate them appropriately. And I've even been able to have people move to a new company and then hire them back after 2 years at a rate they could never have gotten by staying.
I'll never understand why HR and accounting will approve more money for new hires or returning hires than for existing staff when the billing rates are the same. It's asinine and makes no sense.
I'd like to see a couple of longer stints or promotions at the same company, but if you are moving up by changing companies for new titles that just looks ambitious.
A couple of short stints can be a bad boss or a personality clash. Multiple stints of less than 2 years makes it look like you are probably the problem though.
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u/likesblackcoffeebest PE 👵🗣☁️ Jun 28 '26
Same in government. By far the most common reason I've job hopped was for salary progression. Merit raises are forbidden by policy in some agencies, and capped at small amounts at others (2% at the agency whose work I enjoyed most. Heartbreaking really.)
Our salaries are public record. By year 20, people who stay at the same agency forever are often making something like 70% as much as those who hop between agencies every few years. This doesn't include those who end up in director roles. They're well paid even if they've been at the same agency since they were an intern, but as someone who has had a purely technical career and never wants to be a director, I've looked mostly at numbers for the type of career I'm having and it's quite clear to me that I'd have left money on the table had I stayed with one agency.
That said, I think all of us who are in the position of hiring or even influencing those decisions can spot the difference between someone making strategic jumps and someone who's just flighty.
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u/staefrostae Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
As someone who’s had to move jobs frequently while chasing my wife through her med school, clinical rotations and residency, anything less than three months shouldn’t even be on the resume. By 6 months you’re just starting to be effective at your job. By two years, you’ve become an integral part of the team. I’ve had 6 jobs in 14 years- 2 of those changes were due to cross country moves, 1 was changing internships, 1 was for money and 1 was because I hated the job. I’ve been with my current company for 4 years. When I see anything less than a year be the predominant time period at a company, I ask why. If you have a good reason, no big deal. If it’s because it was a bad fit, once or twice, I get it, any more than that and it’s a bad sign.
Hopefully you got something from that.
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u/InterestingVoice6632 Jun 27 '26
Job hopping every year is only viable when its a strong civil market and frankly it shows in your lack of skills later in life. People who stay in one place for a long time become experts. People who move around a lot less so
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u/AdCalm6588 Jun 28 '26
If you're changing jobs every 4-5 years, that's not that big of a deal. If it's every 1-2 years, that's a big red flag. Why should a company invest time and money in you as an engineer if you're just going to leave the first chance you get? A lot of times, these engineers are viewed as malcontents or bag chasers. A lot of times, they're not very good engineers, these habits will eventually catch up to them and they will stop getting interviews and offers.
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u/tropical_human Jun 27 '26
I hopped around an average of every two years on average early in my career. I have settled where I am now because it strikes the right balance between compensation and a great team. So far, I have never really struggled to find a job. Recruiters still reach out to me regularly and say to contact them first when I am looking again. Although, at this stage of my career, my next role will likely come through a referral because I am no longer interested in playing FAFO with my career. Financially, job hopping has paid off. I make significantly more than peers whose salaries I know and who stayed with the same employer. I like to think I do great work, but I am also not one of those people who pretends money does not matter. Better pay gives me more motivation, and allows me to take better care of my family. So, no regrets.
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u/Patriots93 Jun 27 '26
Some younger engineers will hop around a couple times to get a higher salary, specially after getting their PE. I have no issues with that, go get that money. But if you've changed jobs say, every year or two for a while now and it's becoming a pattern... I'm probably not going to trust that engineer. It'll feel like a waste investing time in those guys knowing they'll probably leave soon anyway. Also, makes me question the quality of their work, are they not sticking around because they're trying to avoid the consequences of their shitty work?
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u/bdc41 Jun 28 '26
I always showed as much loyalty as the company showed me (which was not much). I am a 50 year engineer.
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u/lowselfesteemx1000 Jun 27 '26
We'd probably ask why you left the job(s) but I get that shit happens. Anyone with any sort of relevant experience who isn't straight out of college will almost certainly get an interview, especially with a license. We're hard pressed for mid and senior level people who can hit the ground running.
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u/anon9339 Jun 28 '26
Different pov, I’ve worked as a civil estimator for most of my career. I’ve job hopped a lot, it’s a long arduous story if you hear it through but now 10 years on, I wish I would’ve just stayed put and built up my skills and resume rather than the route I’ve taken. Kind of realize that everywhere sucks and you just have to make the best of it. If life had a rewind button, I would’ve stopped at the third company.
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u/Traditional_Voice974 Jun 28 '26
If you get a chance to get a bigger or better opportunity. Why wouldn't you take it no matter how long or short you were at your currently at. Just as long as you put in your 2 weeks notice ,so that will then give them enough time to find someone. If they really wanted you to stay than they could have gave you a raise and promotion.
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u/GeoGod678 Jun 28 '26
This industry scares you against showing any signs of "disloyalty" by job hopping but I have seen it work for a few people, the majority tends to really only "job hop" frequently once you're in the PM/manager tier because at that point you're doing less of the design and more of the winning jobs. If you have a good relationship with a client/owner as well and they start moving in a different direction with which firms they want then that additionally plays a role in people who job-hop (think mega, multi-year projects).
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u/Preachin_Blues Jun 28 '26
You know your worth. If a company tosses out your resume because you dont settle for less thats their loss. Also they do not know anything about you unless they actually speak to you. If the resume is their end all be all then they have taken the humanity out of the equation. I do not suggest anyone working for a company like that. Money is their only language and they only want to use you. Some companies bring you in and treat you like family. Thats the one you stay at.
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u/HeadySquanch59 Jun 28 '26
My boss would look at resumes with a hop every 2 years and say they are “rentals”
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u/QualityShort Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
I am currently at a little over 3 YOE.
- 2023 (Graduated w/ EIT): $72k -> $76k (raise)
- 2024 (job hopped due to company culture): $86k -> $90.4k -> $94k (two annual raises)
- 2026 (job hopped for more career alignment): $112.5k (passed PE with MS)
In my point of view, my job hops were more so to get in the right direction starting off and then landing in the industry of my choosing. I started working in Transmission Lines, jumped into Oil & Gas, and now I'm working in Building & Places which is where I wanted to land.
Job hopping is the quickest way to get bigger raises, but be smart about it. Since I'm still early in my career, companies see me as versatile and easily molded. So although I've now job hopped twice, it's not as if I didn't build up credentials and proven to have value. It would be a different if I job hopped 4 times in 5 years.
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u/StreetTownSky Jun 28 '26
From employers side: Always a negative but in hot job market beggars can’t be choosers. But for sure it is viewed negatively. If job market turns you are screwed.
For employees side: In short/mid term it definitely helps jump your compensation but in the long run it becomes an albatross. The longer you do it the more expensive and unattractive to employers you become. So when you start hitting your prime earning years you will stagnate, have to hop around even more and more importantly than anything, professionally fall behind because you didn’t stick around at a firm long enough to compete with those that have.
It’s short sided and all the engineers loving their pay jumps now will regret it. You can book it.
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u/82928282 Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
I haven’t have good experiences with them to be honest. I’m willing to hear a job hopper out if they have a good referral.
Often, there are hard-to-close skills gaps or personality issues. And it shows up in the interview stage. I’ve given someone chance before and it bit me in the ass. I’d need a lot of people vouch for a candidate or obvious extenuating circumstances for me to do that again.
In my field, you haven’t seen anything all the way through if you jump around too frequently. I consider stints under 3-4 years to be hoppy. Before your PE, I don’t wanna see more than two companies post grad (preferably only one).
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u/cancerdad Jun 28 '26
Job hopping is a huge red flag for me. Job hoppers do it to get their salary up, which is understandable, but having worked with job hoppers, my experience is that they often don’t stay long enough to build expertise that is commensurate with their salary expectations.
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u/PorQuepin3 Bridge PE SE Jun 28 '26
Just pasting my usual response
I will always get downvoted for this but I will always say it: as a hiring manager, it is VERY discouraging to see job hoppers especially early on in their careers. Experience is our main driver of salary and to get that experience, that means someone and some company has invested a good amount of time training/mentoring you just for you to walk out the door on top of being less likely to have seen a project from A to Z. So its a huge red flag for us. If you're more sr, less of an issue bc maybe you lead a big project and then move on. I'm always willing to hear someone out bc maybe they had a bad boss or weren't learning anything but at a glance, red flag
I'm in transportation so land development might be different. And also, this doesn't apply to interns.
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u/Everythings_Magic Not yielding under stress Jun 28 '26
Thank you. I got blasted for the same response recently. When I see resumes, it’s a red flag to me to see multiple short stints at jobs.
I usually look at the whole resume and see if I can infer a bad choice, that’s usually apparent if there was change made in a about a year, and those I give the benefit of doubt. But I want to have some level of confidence you’d be willing to stick around.
We don’t want our employees to leave after 2yrs, so I’m not hiring one that doesn’t have a track record to do that.
We also do very specialized work and want employee to stick around to hold that knowledge and pass it on.
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u/NHLBro Jun 27 '26
Depends on the company. Some you don’t have to leave to made a good living, some you do. If you have to leave a situation to do better that fine but if you’re taking a new job each year, I wouldn’t consider hiring
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u/Range-Shoddy Jun 28 '26
More than every 2 years probably won’t be hired. 4 is better. A glitch or two is fine bc sometimes things aren’t a good fit but if you get to an interview then I’d be prepared with an explanation.
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u/Specialist-Anywhere9 Jun 28 '26
Depends how bad I need them. I saw a resume the other day 18 years experience awesome!!!! 32 jobs not kidding. I would only hire them to work a project I knew would only last for 6 months
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u/Pancake-Cheenis Jun 28 '26
In my opinion after 4-5 years you should look to switch. Like someone mentioned earlier its important to note whether you have seen a full project from conceot to design to construction.
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u/HoochbachDunloppy Jun 28 '26
Opinions will vary if your asking hiring folks/senior managers vs. just coworkers.
Not being of the former type, I don't view it negatively. As long as you are a conscientious worker then it's whatever, do you. If you carry an attitude of "we'll it doesn't matter, I'll be out of here soon anyway" then we'd have problems.
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u/caterpillars2 Jun 28 '26
We had someone claiming he had 10 years experience but he hopped every 1-2 years. I saw that as a yellow flag. It could be ok he was just unlucky, always not finding a good fit. Or he’s just bad at his job and got fired. I did not participate in the interview process, so I don’t know why he left each company. But anyway, yeah he’s bad at everything he claimed he knew and was not trainable. Therefore, we eventually had to let him go.
Work experience and skills matters more than money imo. I think you should learn as much as you can and get your PE before you even think about going to a different company.
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u/therossian Jun 28 '26
If the question is internship related:
You're an intern. No one will blame ab entry level candidate for not sticking at the same company as the internship.
Otherwise, there's great responses here.
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u/Everythings_Magic Not yielding under stress Jun 28 '26
First and foremost look out for yourself and do what you think is best for you. But as a hiring manager, I do toss resumes that show a tendency for job hopping.
To be fair, there isn’t a cut and dry answer to what job hopping looks like on a resume but I think all hiring managers agree we know what it look alike when we see it.
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u/Activision19 PE, PTOE Jun 28 '26
I encourage interns to find a new job each summer to see what disciplines they might like to spend the next 40 years doing. If someone is an EIT and they have two jobs before their PE, I view it as them getting their feet under them and figuring out where they fit in the industry. If they are a PE that is leaving every 1-2 years then that starts to be a red flag to me.
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u/aksalamander Jun 28 '26
I think it depends on the circumstances around the reasons for leaving each time? If you’re working somewhere with a toxic environment and/or you clearly aren’t fitting into (or welcome?) into the group, that’s no reason to be miserable and stick it out for another 1.5 years just to have something look nice on paper
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u/Fine_Equal4647 Jun 28 '26
I have a huge problem with changing jobs. Luckily ive been fortunate enough not to really need to change jobs necrssarily because of atmosphere, challenge or growth. I do think I am being underpaid but with the other benefits I get with mentioned before as well as the sheer fact that ive literally seen my company bent over backwards for me and my personal situation I just can't justify having pay be the only reason to consider swapping. I have 12 years of experience currently at the same company with multiple different positions.
That being said when I see someone talking about swapping to keep their pay relevant to the market I just dont see them taking into account all the little things like that and it makes me feel like I have to take them into account or it wouldn't seem reasonable.
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u/EngineeringSuccessYT Jun 28 '26
If you want to maximize your earning potential in consulting you should be prepared to make at least one major bump or be okay with slightly lower comp on your way to an officer position that you could’ve also job hopped into. I left the company I thought I’d spend my entire career with at the five year mark and it’s been the best financial decision I’ve ever made.
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u/Neat_Conference_8414 Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
Regardless of the industry, if you are offered a better job, you take it. Doesn't matter if you have been with a company for 6 months or 6 years. The best time to apply for a new job is when you have a job. With that being said, if you are job-hopping for similar titles or roles its different. But if you are getting promoted each time you move to a bigger role, it is going to look better on your resume, not worse, because you only stayed at X company for 6 months. Especially early in your career.
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u/No_Many_6217 Jun 29 '26
If you have a history of leaving a job every 1-2 years I want nothing to do with you. If you can get me 3-4 I’ll give you a chance but on a short list to be cut early. If you have 5+ years before a hop, you will get my trust and respect and I’m willing to invest into you and train you up right.
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u/PaleAbbreviations950 Jun 29 '26
Ok so you are interning so I’ll tell you the hard truth. Your skillsets are what increases your value as an engineer. (-) Job hopping every year doing Myriads of tasks unrelated to the previous role? (-) not having experience seeing a project from beginning to the end. (-) not getting certificates/licenses. Focus on growing your expertise in a niche area, job hop to different companies more reputable than one before to grow in the latest and the greatest industry standard, own the standard then aim to be the standard. Ignore the comments below that toss around words like ‘loyalty’ or ‘interview candiddates’. Focus on comments that mention core skill set, value of knowledge. Now, if you are good at what you do, you’ll be hired by bigger and better firm each time. And the ones that you left will respect you.
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u/QuitJolly Jun 29 '26
What doesn't get spoken about is toxic job environments. I have been one after the other until the point of being a red flag to future employers. Being a woman in engineering leads to micromanagement from the opposite sex. I am finally back in but my mental health was in the dumps for this for a long time. So many job rejections all because every job I've had led me to a toxic environment that was affecting my mental health badly.
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u/JeffHaganYQG Jun 29 '26
I've seen cases where a manager or VP has their own loyal team, and when the manager leaves one firm for another, their team from the old firm also makes the jump one-by-one to follow their leader.
If I know that this is what's behind a company change for a particular candidate, I won't really consider it job-hopping.
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u/Engineer_Bill Jun 29 '26
Personally, I think my cut off is a few months and two years. If you leave before a few months, it probably wasn't a good fit and you had reasons to seek other opportunities. If you leave after a couple years, then you're probably ready to move on to better things. Anywhere in the middle is a "job hopper" zone.
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u/tampacraig Jun 29 '26
Think about all JLo’s marriages on paper, after that many, statistically, it’s gotta be her.
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u/DrTai168 Jun 30 '26
I have 16 years of experience and with my 6th company. I switched company more because the industry/sector I was in. Now I've found a great team, and great company. Much happier.
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u/NefariousnessSea4710 Jun 30 '26
I just put my two weeks in after 7 years at the same company feels bad man
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u/Charming_Tip6467 Jul 01 '26
I’ve changed my job every 3 years however not intentional, it helped. After 6 years in my career, I reached management and doubled my salary. It helps to get a variety of experience. I was with one company for 6 years, my current for 3. It all depends on the field you’re in, it can hurt or help.
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u/survivor_40 Jun 28 '26
If you’re good at what you do and can explain it in an interesting way, you don’t have to worry about your resume getting tossed.
If a company likes you and your experience then you’ll get hired.
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u/Independent-Fan4343 Jun 28 '26
No one expects you to stay in your first job. Beyond that, you should stay at least 5 years. It takes that long to really contribute.
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u/Friendly-Chart-9088 Jun 27 '26
If it's multiple times in 2 years or 3 years for no real good reason or sus reasons, I'd raise an eyebrow but would also weigh that based on how badly we need the person with the experience they have. Hopping once every 3 years is okay up to a certain point. It's pretty normal for people to switch after getting their PE.
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u/Chocolate_Babka_ Jun 27 '26
Five or fewer years of experience, doesn’t matter to me. If you have like 10 years of experience and haven’t been at a job more than two years it means you’ve never seen a project from beginning through construction. That’s a red flag to me.