Really? Easiest for whom? I find switching jobs painful and stressful, and my largest percentage salary increases have come without switching employers.
And how is that the point anyway? danssig didn't say anything like that, he just said "If you want more money you need to change jobs.", and assumed the strategy in question would be blindly applied by an ignorant worker and result in exploitation. Do you have some insight that allows you to discern he meant something vastly different from what he said?
This is just because you don't do it enough. I used to hate it enough that I once sued a company to try and make them not lay me off. Now I change every 16mo-5 years and I love the interview part. I would never stay anywhere (besides my own company) for more than 5 years as IMO it makes you appear not very sought after.
>and my largest percentage salary increases have come without switching employers.
I find this very hard to believe. All companies have caps on how much of an increase you can get per year, per performance raise, etc. When you move it's mostly dependent on your negotiation skills (which get better the more they're used). The biggest raise I ever got in a company was during the dot com bubble (they were afraid we would leave). I got 28% (massive, massive exception to get this. Performance raises were the highest you could normally get and were capped at 15%). I moved to another company a few years later and more than doubled my salary. My latest move brought me another 40%.
>and assumed the strategy in question would be blindly applied by an ignorant worker and result in exploitation.
It is easiest for a lot of people. I know someone who did this a lot and ended up with an extremely high salary just a few years after dropping out of school. He would look for different companies after 1-2 years of working at his current one, apply, and try to get a better salary. It got to the point once where the companies he was working for were bidding for the person with the companies he applied to. This wasn't at Silicon Valley, and wasn't with startups, and he never quit his current job unless he had secured a better job.
And how is that the point anyway? danssig didn't say anything like that, he just said "If you want more money you need to change jobs.", and assumed the strategy in question would be blindly applied by an ignorant worker and result in exploitation. Do you have some insight that allows you to discern he meant something vastly different from what he said?