I've got raises as high as 206% by switching jobs. Most recent switch a little over 2 years ago resulted in a 20% raise which is much more typical.
Never had more than a cost of living increase otherwise (2-3%),
My strategy is to move when I stop learning. It maximizes both my enjoyment (learning challenges me and gives me motivation beyond a paycheck which is good for me and my employer.) and my potential earnings.
Since Oct 2012, I've gone from $32k, to $44k, to $75k, to $85k (and killer benefits) now. None of these were in SF, NYC, LA, Boston or Austin. All from switching jobs.
One thing not mentioned a lot in this discussion is that those triple- and double-digit increases tend to only happen early in one's career. Later in your career, it gets very difficult to find a different company that is willing to pay you even 10% more than you're making. You definitely will hit a ceiling at some point. My last job hop probably did not result in more than a 1% bump or so.
So, Junior Engineer going from $32K to $60K is totally believable. Senior Engineer going from $150K to $175K is going to be rarer. Super-Senior Engineer going from $190K to $225K seems unlikely (but probably does happen from time to time).
> Senior Engineer going from $150K to $175K is going to be rarer. Super-Senior Engineer going from $190K to $225K seems unlikely (but probably does happen from time to time).
I don't think either of those are particularly rare. If you're learning and negotiating aggressively, the salary ramp is very steep.
There is absolutely a ceiling, but it's probably closer to $300k than $150k.
Just to give a anecdotal data point. I'm in that high end range and have been for a long time, and I go between it (a little higher and lower for that matter) based on the job opportunity. Literally, I've taken jobs that go down that much because it sounded like a good job. Similarly, I've been given raises that much because of a variety of factors.
But to your larger point, at the top end of the scale, to make dramatically more money you need to get attached to the business revenue directly, either as a founder, a partner, a solo operator etc.
206% means x3.06, so (s)he was previously making 1/3.06 of the new rate, which is roughly 32.7% of the new rate. Assuming the new rate was "at market", the old rate was 67.3% below market.
Math like that is why I make the big bucks. (I do not currently make the big bucks.)
I have to agree - a big incentive of changing jobs is how much you learn in those first 1-2 years with any new company. Another reason I have found for leaving recently is that the company makes a change that adversely affects your conditons. I am currently working for a company that when I started offered great pay for weekend work. Then new management came in with a mandate to cut costs and this was then removed which has significantly lowered my pay. The company is making record profits and is hugely profitable already so it wasnt done because of hard times. Either way, the way I see it is that its not my company and they can choose to do this - but then I can also choose to work somewhere else where I will earn more now that this source of extra $ has dried up.
Never had more than a cost of living increase otherwise (2-3%),
My strategy is to move when I stop learning. It maximizes both my enjoyment (learning challenges me and gives me motivation beyond a paycheck which is good for me and my employer.) and my potential earnings.