For me working in IT it went like this:

Year 1: 24,000/yr
Year 2: 24,000/yr
Year 2.5: 28,000/yr
Year 3 (New Job): 38,500
Year 4: 43,500

Year 5 won't bring anymore raises... the execs still get their bonuses tho... (The economy is the excuse, our stock dropped to 4 something a share down from 30 earlier this year...)

And I was FORCED to leave that job at yr 2 because they were gonna lay me off anyway...

And in my current place, no room to move up, becuase everyone higher than me has been here for more than 8 yrs, and they aren't going anywhere... So my pay will top out just about where it is now, unless I quit and find another job yet again...


Basically if I stayed in IT for 10+ years, I'd only be up to somewhere around 50 to 55 grand (In todays money)... If I'm lucky...