Is it necessary and beneficial to change employers at some point?

Come to the dark side of auto glass. Come on man, come with me.



ETA: I see below you are wanting to have a successful life, my apologies, ignore my above reply.

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What are your professional goals? Do you feel they would/could be met where you are now?

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Ultimately, I’d hope to be a CFO one day, but there’s a lot that needs to happen to attain that where I’m at. It may make sense to get as high up as I can where I’m at as I’ve proven myself here and still moving up.

OP, I think previous reply nailed it. You must align your career goals with current path. Once those two things become misaligned, you should start looking to change. I particularly started looking hard at the “milestone” points. 5 years, 10 years, etc. This is where you start to qualify for the “next level” roles of your career.

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But I really like the folks. Will have yo decide at some point

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This is, by far, the most difficult part of changing jobs. The relationships you build are irreplaceable.

However, there is no loyalty to the company. By no means “burn the bridge”, but you must do what is best for yourself. If you don’t see yourself moving up, keep an eye out for other opportunities. When the right one comes along, jump.

I'm in accounting/finance. Here are a few nuggets I would share from my experience:

What I've found is that I've learned way more in smaller companies vs publicly traded or large private ones. But, there is also such a thing as too small. I probably wouldn't work someplace with less than $15M- 20M in annual revenue. On the flip side, working your way up at a F500 company is waaaay more flashy on a resume vs some small shop nobody's ever heard of. So you kind of have to weigh your differences there.

If you aren't being promoted every 3-5 years then it's time to move on.

There is a lot of upside to seeing how companies do things differently. It's good to get perspective in that way.

The biggest salary bumps I've gotten have come from switching companies. Finance is overhead. They pay us as little as they can and hire as few of us as they can. I made two moves in five years and doubled my salary.

If you do change jobs, try not make a lateral move unless you are completely miserable. Go for a title bump as well as a pay bump.

If you like where you are and what you're doing, think hard about moving on. You could end up some place that totally fricking blows, and unless they're making it rain money, then the misery isn't worth it. Do a lot of research on the company you are interviewing with to make sure it isn't a lemon.

CFO is an ambitious yet doable goal. It's hard to give good guidance not knowing your exact situation, but I would guess you will probably need to make a few moves to get there. Personally I've found a lot of value in moving on to new roles. I've seen people work at one place for an eternity, finally move on to another, and they're completely shell shocked when they get there because they forgot how to operate outside of their comfort zone.

Good luck!

Lot of factors to consider. “Are you happy with your job/company” being a big one in my opinion. If you can take it or leave it, you can have a number in your head that it would take for you to leave and then pursue that number.

This isn't the old days. Employers don't value their employees as they once did. Always be looking because they are.