[sbank]

If I'm insanely fortunate I will have 100 reasonably healthy years on this planet. Spending 3-4% of my life at any one company is a lot if you ask me, no matter how much I like it there. The bottom line for a lot of people on HN is that they don't have to if they don't want to. And like you say, most companies are not SpaceX. While you can certainly still grow and crush it after 2-3 years, chances are that you can grow and crush it that much more if you uproot and start over somewhere else.

[foobarian]

I used to value working at a "SpaceX" company much more in my 20s, but these days I'm grumpier and more selfish. Now I prioritize happy with job, good pay, work-life balance, short commute even if it's just some website. I figure if I have those things right now, there is no reason to leave.

[wolfgke]

> While you can certainly still grow and crush it after 2-3 years, chances are that you can grow and crush it that much more if you uproot and start over somewhere else.

Or have to begin at the bottom somewhere else. In other words: give up what you reached at the first company when you go somewhere else.

[ghaff]

Without judging it one way or the other, there is a certain mentality among many in tech (especially Silicon Valley) that jumping full-time jobs every 2 or 3 years is just how things are done. By contrast, in most situations, a resume with 10 different jobs on it tends to set all sorts of alarm bells off. It's partly a function of startups, which frequently fail. But it's not just that.

[azernik]

If you're getting a clear demotion when you switch jobs, there's a problem.