I'm not a US person. Is it common to see a 50-100% pay raise on switching jobs?
Sure if you pay me twice my current salary, I will probably do whatever you ask me to without complaint. But around here such a big pay increase would be a fantasy.
The mythical 50-100% pay bump can happen if you’re making the leap from some local, no-name small business to a FAANG type job, but it’s not like you can continue repeating that over and over again. It’s kind of a one-time leap that people make from average jobs to top paying jobs. Going into the $500K type jobs isn’t as automatic as people here like to make it sound, unless you’re looking at people who started at rocket ship startups before the stock took off. Even those engineers struggle to get back to those compensation levels when the dust settles and their RSUs go back to normal.
It’s also not as common to find remote work combined with sky-high salaries as HN suggests some times. While I do know a lot of people with remote FAANG jobs, it wasn’t easy. Basically years of working their way specifically into those positions with hard work and building a reputation to warrant it.
> While I do know a lot of people with remote FAANG jobs, it wasn’t easy. Basically years of working their way specifically into those positions with hard work and building a reputation to warrant it.
This _used_ to be true. Post-Covid, many (all?) FAANGs offer remote to almost anyone requesting it.
It's not common, no, unless you're going to a FAANG-like or extremely well-funded startup and are in a favorable negotiating position. The big numbers typically come from stock compensation; base salaries rarely soar.
I'd say 20% is more likely and considered significant.
It depends but it is not uncommon in certain fields (only computer adjacent fields are growing like this in the US). At lower levels for high performing individuals in FAANG adjacent areas it is very doable. Having spent a good portion of my twenties massively underpaid it was pretty easy to double pay a few times over but it helps to start 50% below the median. Moreover a company will not give you pay increases while you work there that are commensurate with the market rate. A job swap is the primary way to realize the benefits of personal growth and a rapidly ballooning market.
There are differences on that order of magnitude between tier 2 and tier 1 employers at the same seniority, and between different seniority levels. So yes these bumps exist, but it’s not like they stack repeatedly if you switch 4 times.
Sure if you pay me twice my current salary, I will probably do whatever you ask me to without complaint. But around here such a big pay increase would be a fantasy.