How long does people work at one place … approximately…
Depends on the situation… but I would say with a first job it can be as short as 6 months… your right out of school, getting your feet wet, not sure where you fit.
Second, third and so, I would think at LEAST 2 years. Get some time under your belt, learn the ropes, start to be productive.
One thing is for sure, I would say, is that I think people move around a lot more then in the old days.
Maybe 20+ years ago, or our parents generation, many took a job after school and retired at the same place.
These days, I think more people move around more, get international experience, travel, intern etc. All good things in my opinion.
Ive been at my current job for 2.5 years and was at my previous job for 3 years.
R
For your first job, I would advise at least 1 year. It is a good amount of time to learn. It is also not too short for your resume. A prospective furture employeer will look at how long you stayed at a past job.
Currently, at our office we have people that have been here for 13, 10, 4 and 3 years.
I totally agree with blaster701, a year is a good minimum. Less than that looks suspicious to the potential employer.
You should also go into the job with an open mind to staying longer too, re-evaluate things after 9 months not before.
I find that most junior designers in our office have only just ‘ripened’ after 12 months, and then start producing their best work. It would have been too early for them to move on that quickly because they never would have reached anything near their full potential, and their portfolio wouldn’t have shown their true light either.
This is probably the case for most consultancies where a junior designer gets involved in various aspects of design, but may be quite different in a job where the newbies get pigeon-holed into being just CAD jockeys or render monkeys.