# What is the ideal length of time to work at a company?



## lemurs (Jun 22, 2012)

What do you think?


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## AriesLilith (Jan 6, 2013)

Depends on the company. I work in the IT field as a programmer/developer, and unfortunately it seems that where I live, the only way to get significant raise and/or to get out of projects that no longer allows growth is by changing companies, so that many people in my field tend to change company every few years. Although we try to change when we can find another job.


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## Eudaimonia (Sep 24, 2013)

The ideal length of time for what? Haha. The ideal length of time would be for as long as possible and probably get some kind of pension or retirement out of it as long as it was giving you enough to live comfortably on and you got good health benefits from it and that you enjoyed working there.

The work I'm doing now I've been doing for 20yrs and that doesn't have anything to do with companies because companies rise and fall and I'm still standing. The "company" I'm working for now has changed 5 times in name and management and insurance policies in the 10yrs that I've been working for them.


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## LibertyPrime (Dec 17, 2010)

The ideal time is: never or as long as one is payed for the value generated.

One ought to be working for oneself, not for other people. They just happen to trade cash for your skills.


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## Scrabbletray (Apr 27, 2014)

I was always told that three years is the longest you ever really want to work for a company. That's because most companies will just give you measly "cost of living" raises each year and you have to move around in order to get any sort of significant raise. However, I would imagine that after you reach a point in your career where you are already making more or less as much as a person in your field can than it's best to just stick around where you are at for job security. You definitely need to move around when you are young though.


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## Liontiger (Jun 2, 2009)

You should stay at a job for as long as you are continuing to grow in your abilities and are satisfied with the conditions. If you find you need more of a challenge, then change. But choosing an arbitrary number for when to call it quits is just that. Arbitrary.


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## noz (Dec 7, 2009)

uhhh, depends on the FIELD more-so than company. If you work for any landscaping company longer than a year, for instance, you're fucking up.

Same might be said for Trucking Companies, will try to let you know ...


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## peabrane (Nov 1, 2009)

Depends on the job and the company. If you're happy where you are, don't feel obligated to look for something else. If you're miserable, don't wait. If you're okay with the job but want something more, I'd say 1-2 years is about right; it depends on the industry, but in general you wouldn't want your resume to show that you're likely to run off as soon as you're hired.

Ideally I'd like to find a company I could stay with indefinitely. In practice, I tend to start getting antsy around that 1 year mark.


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