What is the average time that it takes to double your starting salary?

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: mugs
Depends on how poorly you were paid when you started working.

Not really. Chances are if you work at the same company, and advance through the ranks by normal procedure you are gonna go up by a certain percentage each year. Therefore if employee A started at some company at 10K a year, and employee B started at another company at 50K a year, and they both got about the same percentage, they would double in the same amount of time.

Is there any reason why person A would expect bigger raises than person B just because they made less money to start? If anything, I would think it would be the opposite. Shitty paying jobs/employers are probably more stringent about the raises they give out.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: mugs
Depends on how poorly you were paid when you started working.

Not really. Chances are if you work at the same company, and advance through the ranks by normal procedure you are gonna go up by a certain percentage each year. Therefore if employee A started at some company at 10K a year, and employee B started at another company at 50K a year, and they both got about the same percentage, they would double in the same amount of time.

Is there any reason why person A would expect bigger raises than person B just because they made less money to start? If anything, I would think it would be the opposite. Shitty paying jobs/employers are probably more stringent about the raises they give out.

well, yeah.

apply this to your situation:

A works as a janitor for $8 per hour at Company X while he's getting his college degree. Upon graduation he's given a job as a programmer making $20/hr.

 

[RichUK]

The only way to make sizeable jumps in your salary is to change employer. When career building, you shouldn?t stay in the same position for any longer than 2 years, 3 years at the very most.

I?ve doubled my gross annual income in the past 12 months. Contracting FTW

 

[Brovane]

I started in the IT field in January of 1999 making $10/hr with no benefits. After going through 3-different companies, 2-temp gigs and one consultant gig I finished the year in December of 1999 with a full time position with benefits paying $20/hr. I still work for the same company and I have more than doubled that pay again however it did take 4 more years for me to double my salary again. I am still working on the next doubling of salary.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: Brovane
I started in the IT field in January of 1999 making $10/hr with no benefits. After going through 3-different companies, 2-temp gigs and one consultant gig I finished the year in December of 1999 with a full time position with benefits paying $20/hr. I still work for the same company and I have more than doubled that pay again however it did take 4 more years for me to double my salary again. I am still working on the next doubling of salary.

All in 1 year!

:shocked:

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: RichUK
The only way to make sizeable jumps in your salary is to change employer. When career building, you shouldn?t stay in the same position for any longer than 2 years, 3 years at the very most.

I?ve doubled my gross annual income in the past 12 months. Contracting FTW

not particularly good advice, employers will recognize that trend for what it is and be reluctant to hire you.

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: RichUK
The only way to make sizeable jumps in your salary is to change employer. When career building, you shouldn?t stay in the same position for any longer than 2 years, 3 years at the very most.

I?ve doubled my gross annual income in the past 12 months. Contracting FTW

not particularly good advice, employers will recognize that trend for what it is and be reluctant to hire you.

Terrible advice for many technical fields. I work in engineering and staying at a job less than 2 or 3 years is a major read flag. Experience counts and you're still learning at 2, 5 or 10 years in one position. Very few positions are identical so when you job hop you can carry some experience but you still need to learn what's important for that position. I discussed all of this with a high level technical head hunter and went over what she was looking for in a potential hire. 3 years or more is ok, 5 years plus per job is good.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: rocadelpunk
most likely never.

(teacher)

From what I've noticed, it takes about 10-20 years for high school teachers.

For a federal employee, it is not possible to double your starting salary if you have a Master's degree or phD without advancing so high as to be asked to work for the POTUS/White House.

 

[TridenT]

Depends on the field... Depends on how much effort you put in at the beginning and later.

I have no experience. :-/ Anything non-government sounds like easiest way to raise your pay.

 

[Deeko]

I doubled my starting salary out of college within 9 months.

I switched companies though.

 

[TridenT]

Originally posted by: Deeko
I doubled my starting salary out of college within 9 months.

I switched companies though.

This thread really demands how much you made then and now, and what you do. (I was flipping burgers right out college, then I got a job at a law firm)

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: SSSnail
It took me almost 5 years in the same company to almost quadruple my salary (3 different positions), but then I recently took an unvoluntary 100% pay cut so that kinda even out.

you're still working, though? they stopped mailing the paycheck?

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: SSSnail
It took me almost 5 years in the same company to almost quadruple my salary (3 different positions), but then I recently took an unvoluntary 100% pay cut so that kinda even out.

you're still working, though? they stopped mailing the paycheck?

Bob Slydell: Milton Waddams.
Dom Portwood: Who's he?
Bob Porter: You know, squirrely looking guy, mumbles a lot.
Dom Portwood: Oh, yeah.
Bob Slydell: Yeah, we can't actually find a record of him being a current employee here.
Bob Porter: I looked into it more deeply and I found that apparently what happened is that he was laid off five years ago and no one ever told him about it; but through some kind of glitch in the payroll department, he still gets a paycheck.
Bob Slydell: So we just went ahead and fixed the glitch.
Bill Lumbergh: Great.
Dom Portwood: So, uh, Milton has been let go?
Bob Slydell: Well, just a second there, professor. We, uh, we fixed the *glitch*. So he won't be receiving a paycheck anymore, so it'll just work itself out naturally.
Bob Porter: We always like to avoid confrontation, whenever possible. Problem is solved from your end.

 

[Brovane]

Originally posted by: her209

Originally posted by: Brovane
I started in the IT field in January of 1999 making $10/hr with no benefits. After going through 3-different companies, 2-temp gigs and one consultant gig I finished the year in December of 1999 with a full time position with benefits paying $20/hr. I still work for the same company and I have more than doubled that pay again however it did take 4 more years for me to double my salary again. I am still working on the next doubling of salary.

All in 1 year!

:shocked:

Yes 1999 was a fun year. Lots of change in my life. I decided to leave computer school 6-weeks early and take the plunge into the IT workplace. I started in January of 1999 at a small shop fixing computers. It was my first job and it paid $10/hr. They hired me because I had my A+ certification. In March I applied and got hired for $12/hr at a company that sold billing software to doctors offices. They would also sell computer services. So basically the doctor would buy all the computers and software from us and we would come in and set everything up and network all the computers and setup a server. Usually less than 10 computers. I wound up driving all over Southern California on this job and it was fun. In May I applied and got hired as a Desktop support tech at a company with around 80 computers at $12/hr. It was me and a senior guy. In June they let me go without explanation.

I then applied and got a part time temp position for $17/hr. I was working for a company that did the tech support and computer setup for the Sprint Cell Phone sales reps that worked out of there houses. I would basically setup a laptop with a ISDN setup for them. If they had a issue I would come out to there houses and fix it. It was about 20/hrs a week but I was living at home and $17/hr was nice. That dried up by the end of July so I found a consulting gig for a company that built websites. My Mom's friend knew the owner and they needed a part time tech guy who was also willing to learn web development. He was willing to pay me $20/hr as 1099 since I was making $17/hr before as W-2. It was about 30/hrs a week and I learned some HTML skills.

In the beginning of October I did see a temp position for a full time desktop support tech for a large company that was close by my where I lived. I called them up and the temp agency asked me to show up the next day at a Starbucks for a interview. I showed up in a suit and tie the next day at Starbucks. The guy before me was in jeans and a t-shirt. After he left and then I sat down it took about 5-minutes into the interview before they where pushing the paperwork over to me and asking me if I could start tomorrow at $20/hr at the company. I started in the beginning of October and this company had around 800+ PC's and was my first large IT environment experience. They originally had only 3 technicians supporting all this equipment and had a huge backlog of work tickets. They had authorization to expand the IT Desktop staff from 3 to 6 people. They where 5 temps and in December they offered 3 of us positions and I was the top rated person. I got offered the job at $20/hr with full benefits. I have been at this same company since then.

In 1999 everything seemed to fall perfectly into place. Sometimes I almost feel like God was watching out for me and was guiding me to my current position. When I look back at the year I am still amazed at how everything worked out.

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: rocadelpunk
most likely never.

(teacher)

From what I've noticed, it takes about 10-20 years for high school teachers.

For a federal employee, it is not possible to double your starting salary if you have a Master's degree or phD without advancing so high as to be asked to work for the POTUS/White House.

Working your way up the ranks as a federal employee is a pretty shitty way to go. If you spend most of your career in industry and then switch to a federal job before retirement though, you can get a pretty high salary + nice benefits.

My dad was a professor for 20 years, then took over as the director of a government organization that I won't name here, and is making >200K a year.

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: Bignate603

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: RichUK
The only way to make sizeable jumps in your salary is to change employer. When career building, you shouldn?t stay in the same position for any longer than 2 years, 3 years at the very most.

I?ve doubled my gross annual income in the past 12 months. Contracting FTW

not particularly good advice, employers will recognize that trend for what it is and be reluctant to hire you.

Terrible advice for many technical fields. I work in engineering and staying at a job less than 2 or 3 years is a major read flag. Experience counts and you're still learning at 2, 5 or 10 years in one position. Very few positions are identical so when you job hop you can carry some experience but you still need to learn what's important for that position. I discussed all of this with a high level technical head hunter and went over what she was looking for in a potential hire. 3 years or more is ok, 5 years plus per job is good.

Suppose it depends on what field you work in. I?m in Project Management, so I suppose the techy field is somewhat different, when considering the experience factor, etc.

Though I can?t imagine staying in a certain position within a tech job for more than 3 years that beneficial. Regarding the 2-3 year change of job comment, I didn?t necessarily mean move companies, rather progress up the food chain.

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: TridenTBoy3555

Originally posted by: Deeko
I doubled my starting salary out of college within 9 months.

I switched companies though.

This thread really demands how much you made then and now, and what you do. (I was flipping burgers right out college, then I got a job at a law firm)

I'd prefer not to list figures. My job out of college was a software engineer for Lockheed Martin, so it wasn't quite flipping burgers.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: rocadelpunk
most likely never.

(teacher)

From what I've noticed, it takes about 10-20 years for high school teachers.

For a federal employee, it is not possible to double your starting salary if you have a Master's degree or phD without advancing so high as to be asked to work for the POTUS/White House.

Working your way up the ranks as a federal employee is a pretty shitty way to go. If you spend most of your career in industry and then switch to a federal job before retirement though, you can get a pretty high salary + nice benefits.

My dad was a professor for 20 years, then took over as the director of a government organization that I won't name here, and is making >200K a year.

Depends on who you ask. Many federal employees are happy with the work that they do. You don't get double salary, but you do get job security (after 2 years), access to inside-competitive job pools and the ability to get 50-60% salary increase after 4-5 years in many cases.

 

[SSSnail]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: SSSnail
It took me almost 5 years in the same company to almost quadruple my salary (3 different positions), but then I recently took an unvoluntary 100% pay cut so that kinda even out.

you're still working, though? they stopped mailing the paycheck?

Bob Slydell: Milton Waddams.
Dom Portwood: Who's he?
Bob Porter: You know, squirrely looking guy, mumbles a lot.
Dom Portwood: Oh, yeah.
Bob Slydell: Yeah, we can't actually find a record of him being a current employee here.
Bob Porter: I looked into it more deeply and I found that apparently what happened is that he was laid off five years ago and no one ever told him about it; but through some kind of glitch in the payroll department, he still gets a paycheck.
Bob Slydell: So we just went ahead and fixed the glitch.
Bill Lumbergh: Great.
Dom Portwood: So, uh, Milton has been let go?
Bob Slydell: Well, just a second there, professor. We, uh, we fixed the *glitch*. So he won't be receiving a paycheck anymore, so it'll just work itself out naturally.
Bob Porter: We always like to avoid confrontation, whenever possible. Problem is solved from your end.

LoL, no, it's code for laid off. But I'm not fretting.

 

[D1gger]

I started working full time in 1982, doubled my salary in 1983 (moved to sales from support in same company), doubled that again by 1989, and then doubled that by 2006. It is likely that I have reached near the top of my earnings, and I certainly will not be able to double my 2006 earnings.

 

[theeedude]

I was making half of what I make now about 7 years ago.

 

[EMPshockwave82]

Originally posted by: JTsyo
I started off pretty low so now I'm making 3x after 7 years.

I started at entry level and will have doubled my salary and then some after 3 1/2 years.

 

[FoBoT]

i started at this company in sept 1998
i doubled my salary july 2008 , so it took me ten years

that was with changing jobs within the company once and getting one 'promotion' where they just tacked 'senior' onto my title and gave me a bigger raise than the normal annual raise. that was based on my performance, not just longevity

 

[Special K]

Don't forget inflation. The actual number of dollars you make is meaningless. It's their effective buying power that counts. If you get a 3% raise each year, your salary will "double" in 24 years, but your buying power will likely have remained the same or even decreased.

 

[XxPrOdiGyxX]

It looks like I'll be getting there in a little over 4 years.

Started 34,000 at my first job out of school starting, in 2006, at $36,000. I stayed there for 6 months and then switched to another company where I got $45,000. I jumped there in the middle of their fiscal year and received a yearly raise after 6 months and got a $3,000 raise. Since then it's been yearly and out-of-cycle raises:

$48,000 (2007) -> $57,000 (2008) -> $64,000 (out of cycle) -> 2009 pending

My company has been good to me and I think it's usually rare to double that quick without switching companies a few times.

Edit: Oops, didn't read the OP well enough. I'm still a good amount away from doubling.