How long did it take to double your salary?

[lukebuz]

So, I was thinking, at my latest job, my total pay is 100% higher than my first "real job".  While not blockbuster numbers, I have gone from $44K to $88K, and it took me 10 years exactly to do it.

How long, and how much did it take you, if you have, to double your first "real job" pay?

(PS - Search is down, hope it's not a tired repost!)

[sirdoug007]

It took 8 years to double my  salary/bonus. 10 years for just the salary.

I've always been with the same company so it's just annual raises, steady growth, no big jumps.


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[Spork]

This is a WAG because it was many many years ago and I didn't become obsessive about keeping records until later.  I'm going to say 5-6 years with a caveat:  When I was hired, I was fresh out of school and they low-balled me.  I was naive and it seemed like a lot of cash.  Six months later, the whole company did a salary survey and several of us got unexpected big raises because we didn't match up to industry averages.  That company was also pretty awesome about giving both cost of living and merit raises.

Edit to add:  I was also hired in as a Jr Software Engineer level... and proceeded to Software engineer, Sr. Software engineer, etc.  You could say I was working different jobs over those years.

On the other hand, it took no time at all to cut my salary in half.  I moved to an area with very few tech jobs.  Demand was low and my salary was about half what it was before the move.  It goes both ways.

[MonkeyJenga]

Not counting temp jobs, I went from 35k to 70k in two years. Half of that is due to the same reasons as Spork, the other half from a promotion.

[arebelspy]

Never did. Started at 32k. Ended at 44k.

(Teacher in low paying state.)

Also most of the pay difference there was due to getting a Master's Degree, since years of experience (COL) raises were frozen for years due to the great recession budget cuts.

Ended work after 8 years without getting close to doubling (not even 50%).  I don't think I COULD have doubled my original starting without adding more education (misc credits or PHD) and having at least a decade more time in.

[Tabaxus]

In a kind of pithy way, I could say that I went from $35k (out of undergrad, teaching) to $70k (first year out of law school) in 4 years (1 year of teaching + 3 years of law school).  Then I went from ~$70k to ~$220k in one year (second year out of law school; the second year salary was inflated because of a signing bonus related to the first year). 

In more practical terms, it will probably take me ~8-9 years in the firm to go from that $220k to $440k, depending on where bonuses hash out.  Was right around $300k last year, will probably be about the same this year (base pay went up but expecting bonus to be lower because of lower anticipated hours for the measured bonus year).  That said, no idea if I'll last that long at the firm.

[Bertram]

Generally you will hardly ever double your salary at the same job, simply because a business will not stand by and watch a cost get that far out of hand. It happens sometimes if the company is growing very rapidly (which most of the time will mean the whole industry sector is growing a lot, but at some point the controllers always take over every company (there is no infinite growth) and you'll quickly be seen as a problem. Unless you're in a sector where wages play a very minor role in overall cost/earnings (usually simply means a market with high barriers of entry, and the market pressure is not yet high enough).

What generally happens though is that you stay with your employer and do different jobs that add different kinds of values. Or if the industry/sector is high growth you can job hop to companies that are looking to expanding for the sake of expanding (and will typically worry about cost later on). Or if your "work output" is very heavily correlated with the money the company earns (sales would be the classic example). Or your "utilization" in consulting.

There are so many things that play a role, I don't really see the value in comparing numbers without fixing the context first. It's like asking how long did it take you to acquire 35 things of the same color in your household, and which colors were first.

[flyingaway]

At the same institution, it took me 16 years to double my salary with promotions. I could have done it much faster if I wanted or even tried to change an institution.

[Spork]

Never did. Started at 32k. Ended at 44k.

(Teacher in low paying state.)

That is low.  My niece was hired as an elementary school teacher at just under $50k right out of school with no experience.  (And she lives in a low COL area.)

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20150627-starting-teacher-pay-reaches-50000-in-many-north-texas-districts.ece

[Elliot]

I suppose I still haven't, after the better part of a decade. I started with this employer making about 45k and after moving to a supervisor/manager role I make about 70k. This is the government, though, so one has to work within the allotted pay scales for a given job.

[Chris22]

Generally you will hardly ever double your salary at the same job, simply because a business will not stand by and watch a cost get that far out of hand. It happens sometimes if the company is growing very rapidly (which most of the time will mean the whole industry sector is growing a lot, but at some point the controllers always take over every company (there is no infinite growth) and you'll quickly be seen as a problem. Unless you're in a sector where wages play a very minor role in overall cost/earnings (usually simply means a market with high barriers of entry, and the market pressure is not yet high enough).

What generally happens though is that you stay with your employer and do different jobs that add different kinds of values. Or if the industry/sector is high growth you can job hop to companies that are looking to expanding for the sake of expanding (and will typically worry about cost later on). Or if your "work output" is very heavily correlated with the money the company earns (sales would be the classic example). Or your "utilization" in consulting.

There are so many things that play a role, I don't really see the value in comparing numbers without fixing the context first. It's like asking how long did it take you to acquire 35 things of the same color in your household, and which colors were first.

I think the idea is that you get promotions and double what you make. I wouldn't over think it.

I started at the end of '06 at $48.5k, and doubled it early last year with a promotion to manager to $105k from $92k (different company).  So basically 8 years. I don't count my time in the military because the way benefits are combined with salary makes it hard to do a 1:1 comparison.

[katsiki]

Hard for me to remember also but I would say 2-3 years.  Same company which helped in my case.  Mainly, I would say a very generous boss who saw value in me and promoted from within.

[2Birds1Stone]

2015   $110,245
2014   $49,250
2013   $53,675
2012   $52,250
2011   $39,650
2010   $25,900

[Rural]

 Haven't, probably won't.

[Elliot]

2015   $110,245
2014   $49,250
2013   $53,675
2012   $52,250
2011   $39,650
2010   $25,900

Interesting. Would you say these are comparable jobs and all full time? Was there an additional degree/certification earned?

[2Birds1Stone]

2015   $110,245 First full year of IT Sales
2014   $49,250 Store Manager Switch to IT Sales in December
2013   $53,675 Store Manager
2012   $52,250 Got my own store to Manage
2011   $39,650 Full Year as an Assistant Manager
2010   $25,900 Retail Part Time -> Full time Assistant Manager Half way through the year

Interesting. Would you say these are comparable jobs and all full time? Was there an additional degree/certification earned?

I don't have a college degree, did go for 3 years though. Not my thing.

[JLee]

That's tricky because I had a career change.  In 2008 I was making ~$40k/year.  In 2011 I was making ~$48k.  In 2012, I was hired at $33k/yr and 3 years later signed a job offer at $97k/yr.  So...I suppose 7 years if you include the career change, or tripled in 3 years if you look at the most recent career.

[renata ricotta]

One, but that's because my first year salary was artificially deflated, kind of. My first job out of law school was a clerkship with a judge, which is both really good for your resume and notoriously low-paying, but only lasts 1-2 years. So year 1: $43k clerkship. Year 2: $108k law firm job. Year 3: $92k clerkship (more money because I switched court systems and also went to a HCOL area for this one). Next year - year 4 - I'm very likely to jump to close to $200k at a big firm, doing another one-year double.

If I had just gone straight to law firm #1 and waited for my salary to double, it probably would take about 10 years and making equity partner. Moral of the story: changing jobs will get you bigger jumps faster than just chugging along at your current job for a long time.

[JLee]

One, but that's because my first year salary was artificially deflated, kind of. My first job out of law school was a clerkship with a judge, which is both really good for your resume and notoriously low-paying, but only lasts 1-2 years. So year 1: $43k clerkship. Year 2: $108k law firm job. Year 3: $92k clerkship (more money because I switched court systems and also went to a HCOL area for this one). Next year - year 4 - I'm very likely to jump to close to $200k at a big firm, doing another one-year double.

If I had just gone straight to law firm #1 and waited for my salary to double, it probably would take about 10 years and making equity partner. Moral of the story: changing jobs will get you bigger jumps faster than just chugging along at your current job for a long time.

That's so true...

[cygnus]

When I graduated from college in the late 80's I set a goal for myself; $100k/yr by 30, $250k/yr by 35, $500k/yr by 40 and then a real stretch goal of $1mill/yr by 50.  It really kept me focused and I've been able to hit each of them - same industry (finance) but switching firms a half dozen times.  The hardest part was getting to the first $100k.

[Tabaxus]

When I graduated from college in the late 80's I set a goal for myself; $100k/yr by 30, $250k/yr by 35, $500k/yr by 40 and then a real stretch goal of $1mill/yr by 50.  It really kept me focused and I've been able to hit each of them - same industry (finance) but switching firms a half dozen times.  The hardest part was getting to the first $100k.

$500k by 40 is very impressive in finance.  More surprised by that than the $1M by 50.  Congrats on your success, though why on earth are you still working?

[gardenarian]

3 years.
But, I moved across country to an area with a higher cost of living.
As an academic, my salary stayed fairly flat after gaining tenure (aside from COLA.)

[Cassie]

11 years. Working for the state we had a lot of years with a pay freeze and then had furloughs where we actually lost $.

[turketron]

About 7-7.5 years for me, with the increases almost entirely being in the past ~3 years. I don't have any exact figures for my salary at my previous job, but I started at like $28k and only got a couple tiny raises for the 4 years I was there, and I was making roughly $29k or so per year when I left. I left for a new position making $38k and have had the following increases since:

May 2013: ~$29,000
Jun 2013: $38,000
Jan 2014: $44,000
Feb 2015: $50,000
Jan 2016: $54,000
Mar 2016: $59,000

[mozar]

I haven't, and I would be surprised if I did. I'm close though. I started at 54k and I'm now at 94k. That took 5 job hops over 8 years. I work in audit consulting which has been high growth for the last 5 years and will continue to be high growth for the next 5 years and then taper off. My field also has a high barrier to entry. I could make more money if I got the CPA, but after failing a bunch of times I don't think I'm capable of it.

[MidWestLove]

about 5 years through 2 job changes and rapid promotions at the third place of work - there was a period in which within 12 months I had 5 managers and worked in 4 different  groups. the secret to success was to keep show up (and work of cause saying I am bored and willing to do more, where can I help?)

[pdxvandal]

About 6 years. 40k in 2008 to about 80k in 2014. After a layoff, I'm back closer to 65k now, but whatever ... I'm saving more than ever with 401a, 457b and HSA. Thanks, MMM!

[moneysaver]

I started teaching at $37,000 and went to about $68,000 with a masters degree and teaching summer school. Now that I am no longer teaching summer school I am back down to $58,000.  I am not sure how long it will take to get to $72,000 :(

[lomic]

I started in retail in my mid 20's without a degree, then managed to transition to a professional career without finishing school. It's been quite a ride here in silicon valley. The last 6 years have been at the same company, with the same role.

2005: $16,000 (retail)
2006: $50,000 (professional)
2007: $75,000
2008: Unemployed
2009: $50,000
2010: $120,000
2011: $140,000
2012: $150,000
2013: $170,000
2014: $180,000
2015: $220,000
2016: $240,000

[BlueHouse]

4 years.  Then I stayed in the same range for 4 years before my income started to increase again.  I've had ups and downs since then though.

[Dashing]

Starting out of college on 1/1/2007 at 50k, I doubled in about 3 years, and doubled again after that 5 years later. The overall package has grown to include materially better match (~10%) and generally about 30% split between equity and cash bonus each year.

It took 4 company changes, I am confident that each jump directly resulted in advancement that wouldn't have occurred otherwise. I've tried to avoid lateral moves and have been able to tie both advancing title and advancing compensation into each one.

[Knapptyme]

Embarassingly low starting salary teaching at a private school put me $18,900. Within four years, I doubled that up by going to a more legitimate private school in another state. I'll retire before it goes up 50% more for sure.

[londonbanker]

Started in 2003 with megacorp, and got lucky to join their leadership development program early on, which accelerated my career. I then left for another megacorp in 2011 to cash in on my previous (one of most admired companies) experience, and my headhunter did a great job negotiating a big bump.
I have been there since, and exec comp started to vest in 2013, hence the comp.
Haven't reconciled my 2015 income yet, but should be between 2014 lefl and 500k

2003 - $ 43,000
2004 - $ 50,000
2005- $ 66,500
2006- $ 78,000
2007- $ 92,000
2008- $ 136,000
2009- $ 123,200
2010- $ 147,200
2011- $ 252,800
2012- $ 318,128
2013- $ 402,672
2014- $ 448,477

[somebody8198]

I make double what I made in 2010 if you count bonus and other compensation. My biggest jumps in salary have come from switching companies. Employers today don't typically give raises for good performance. The best way to get paid what you deserve is to jump to another employer who wants your skills more than the last guy. I am probably still underpaid right now. I live in a LCOL area, but employers here don't seem to regard people in my technical field as critical staff -- mainly because the big employers in the area are banks or other institutions that consider us a cost, not a revenue source. So I suspect my next big jump in compensation will come from relocating somewhere where my work is critical to the flow of revenue and not just a maintenance cost for the business. It all depends on who you are working for, how your fit into the organization, and whether you are in a good position to negotiate.

[Albert]

Assuming we don't count a postdoc (35k) as a real job I haven't and probably never will. No particular need either as I already make 110k and going into pure management is not my target. With no kids and girlfriend making another 130k what would we need more money for???

[expatartist]

It looks like later this year I'll probably be transferring to a country where I once worked, nine years ago. My total compensation will be more than double what it was the previous time I lived there (not massive, but pretty good now).
Previously:
* Was 'local hire'
This year:
* Internal company transfer
* Includes housing allowance & relocation expenses
* End-of-contract bonus (20% of salary)
* Round-trip airfare to home country every 2 years

[samburger]

2 years, from $25k in 2011 to $64k in 2013.

It's gonna be a while before I can double that $64k, though.

[TooManyGuitars]

I think about 8 years to double it.  And in the 7 since then it's gone up another 60% or so.  I don't see it going up much from here without significant career change though.

[LeRainDrop]

Going to law school for three years multiplied my pre-law-school salary times five.  But since starting as an attorney, it's been eight years of raise-eligible work (though during some years of firm-wide salary freezes), and my salary has only increased by about 50%.

[IAmNotABartender]

Looks like it took just over 6 years to go from 55k in my first full-time job (though had two years part-time experience) to 110k (including bonus).  Software engineer.

[clarkfan1979]

I am a college prof and it will take about 9-10 years to double my salary. This includes switching colleges once. If I never left my first college, it would have taken me 25-30 years.

Many colleges have a problem with faculty salary inversion. Colleges often increase the starting salaries of new faculty to be competitive in the market. However, many colleges do not keep up with inflation with current faculty. In some instances, new faculty are hired on a higher salary than someone who has been at the college for 10 years.

I didn't really get a raise at my last job. After 4 years, I got a 5% salary raise, but a 5% reduction in 401K contribution benefits, so it's a net zero gain after four years. However, after I left, they increased the salary another 5% for my position. The person who will get my job will most likely be right out of grad school and make more money than I was making with 4 years of experience. However, I am making more now because I was willing to switch colleges. 

[Rural]

I am a college prof and it will take about 9-10 years to double my salary. This includes switching colleges once. If I never left my first college, it would have taken me 25-30 years.

Many colleges have a problem with faculty salary inversion. Colleges often increase the starting salaries of new faculty to be competitive in the market. However, many colleges do not keep up with inflation with current faculty. In some instances, new faculty are hired on a higher salary than someone who has been at the college for 10 years.

I didn't really get a raise at my last job. After 4 years, I got a 5% salary raise, but a 5% reduction in 401K contribution benefits, so it's a net zero gain after four years. However, after I left, they increased the salary another 5% for my position. The person who will get my job will most likely be right out of grad school and make more money than I was making with 4 years of experience. However, I am making more now because I was willing to switch colleges.

All of this is why I won't double mine.

[ender]

Hmmmm does my grad school salary count?

Because pretty sure my first fulltime job doubled that :)

I'm about 35% higher salary than my first FT job now. I expect it will take a move from my current geographic area to ever double it (or long enough for inflation to catch up).

[GuitarStv]

After about 12 years, I'm getting close to doubling my starting salary but haven't yet.

[mak1277]

Big 4 public accounting, took me 5 years to double my original starting salary of $37k.  Took me another 6 years to double it again at the same place. 

[kamille]

I did it in 1 year, but my circumstances are different. I am an hourly employee and started taking advantages of pay incentives at my work. I started working part-time at 24 hours a week and picked up working extra weekends, holidays, short-staffed shifts, and bursts of over-time that only increased my average work-week to 32 hours a week for essentially double the pay. The only raise I got was 3% annual to my base-salary and a minimal (about $200) bonus.

[WranglerBowman]

I started at $39,520 and it took me 7 years to double my salary, which included changing jobs twice, getting my masters, and commuting into the city.  I think it was worth it since I still basically live the same as when I was making $45k a year...but my retirement accounts are growing exponentially and I'm not struggling to survive in a HCOL area.

[AZDude]

First "real job" was doing tech support in the early 2000s for about $24K. Two years later I had a software development job making ~$50K.

[QueenAlice]

<1.5 years

Postdoc fellowships are a ridiculous scam. I nearly tripled my salary switching out of academia to do the same exact research in industry.

[Inaya]

2011 - $45,000 (although only a few months at full time, and many, many months at only a few hours per week, so the reality was much, much less)
2012 - $49,000 (same job as ^ , but got a raise)
2013 - $40,000 (actually worked full time, I ended up taking home much more)
2014 - $80,000 (got lucky in the job lottery)
2015 - $81,500 + $1,000 bonus (pro-rated annual raise/bonus--started in September 2014)
2016 - $84,000 + $4,500 bonus (annual raise/bonus)

I got very lucky, otherwise I'd probably be much closer to 50k. (Keep your LinkedIn profile updated; you never know who might see it.) I don't anticipate going much higher beyond the annual raises (~4% per year). I believe I'm only 1 pay grade from the management floor, and I have no interest in management. Plus, I never anticipated making this much to begin with, so I'm happy with the situation.