Comment by api | Hacker News Reader

Comment by api | Hacker News Reader

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I've seen this phenomenon myself, though I have no hard data either.

Personally I think a big reason is that the promotion is dead. There's a palpable sense in every large organization I've worked for is that working hard simply won't get you rewarded and that there's a hard glass ceiling on your ability to rise through merit.

I've found this to be true when I look at my own earnings as well. I have never experienced a significant jump in earnings or responsibility except by switching jobs. Never. I've worked very hard in some jobs, but I have never been rewarded for it except through an ability to cite my present work as a springboard to somewhere else.

That seems to be the case for most people I know, switching jobs is the new promotion. I've had minor raises, entirely remittance, but the few major pay increases and job title changes always have been entirely attributed from leaving an organization for another.

I found it surprising when I worked for a company (more than number years ago) that was primarily a retailer preferred to hire externally for new store managers instead of hiring from its pool of mostly college educated sales staff.

I've seen it before, but they were usually catalyzed by an "unexpected" situation, like 2/3 of the core software team leaving in exodus, and management scrambling to golden handcuff the remaining key engineers, or when 1 of the 2 engineering leads left after 4 years of service, and management again moved to lock up the other remaining one.

I currently work at a company where this isn't the case, and I have experienced a significant jump in earnings and responsibility, and it's refreshing, but it's sort of the exception that proves the rule. Internal mobility and hiring/promoting from within is an explicit tenet of the company culture. I think if you don't explicitly set it up that way, a company will default to the dysfunctional situation you describe.

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