I came out of college with a computer science degree in 1989. I started as a software engineer and moved up the ladder quickly from there. I doubled my first salary by 1993 and more than tripled it with a promotion in 1997, all with the same company. I guess I was a “fast tracker.”
I’m now at a different company making 4.8 times where I started back in 1989. Still in the technology business, but have been in management positions since 1997.
Jammer
I graduated in 2001 and went to work for a company I founded with a friend (not employing my degree whatsoever). I told myself that if I made $20k the first year, I’ll stick with it.
I made $21k the first year - and dipped down a bit for a couple years - but I finally got myself up to double that in 2007.
So, 6 years.
You don’t project to ever triple your entry level starting salary by retirement, i.e., over a 35-40+ year period? Tell me you’re joking. Either that, or hopefully you got some really chunky starting salary.
I mean, just annual adjustments for inflation on top of any raises and promotions you get over a 40 year career should end up at 3x of your starting salary.
Took me about three years to double my starting salary, but I was dirt poor. Currently making about ten or eleven times what I started with. Gotta love the digital age.
Regards,
Shodan
Let’s see:
1988 - Arby’s, $3.50/hr
1994 - Home Depot, $7.20/hr (DOUBLE)
2003 - 1-800 CONTACTS, $28,800/year - roughly $14/hr (QUADRUPLE)
2007 - Mann Eye Institute, roughly double my 2003 wage (OCTUPLE)
ETA: there are other jobs in between these, as well as stints in college and two years of full-time unpaid volunteer work. I only put down the milestones.
First salary after the military, September 1996: $22,600
New job in 1998: $39,000
New job in 1999: $52,000
I’m a little more than double my 1999 salary now…
Once I left the military (in 1990), I doubled my salary overnight. By the time eight years had passed, it had gone up by half as much again. Five years after that, it had gone up by half as much again, then doubled again overnight when I changed jobs. From that all-time high four years ago, I’ve lost about a third due to job changes. It’s been an interesting ride.
I work for the government. 9 years ago was a GS7-1, now am a GS13-5. That’s about triple.
Oh, I forgot - one summer I worked as a junior counselor at a camp for little kids. I think I made about $30 in tips (all in the form of Blockbuster gift cards) for the summer. Relative to that, my current pay looks even better. 
I’m not in the workforce but my fiance entered full time work in 2006, doubled his salary in late 2006 (head-hunted), and tripled it in 2007 (promoted). Things are kind of up in the air at the moment - he received an excellent performance review in January, has a chance of being head-hunted again in February, but depending on what his March bonus and salary review are like, we might move to Dubai or London for the fun of it. I’m pushing for London because we know a fair few people there, we love cold weather, and it would be fun to just pop over to France or Germany for a holiday. In Melbourne we pop over to Sydney: “Oh wow. It’s almost exactly like Melbourne. Let’s go home.”
8X 15 years after my first professional job. I think the number is 25 or 30X over my first ever job as a short order cook.
Well, if you count my co-op jobs, 2 years to double and 2 years, 8 months to triple it. Now, perhaps my first co-op job should be discounted as it paid virtually nothing($1000/month, woo!).
Actually, it’s still 2 years to double even if the first job is discounted.
If we’re only counting jobs after graduation, then it’s going to take me a very long time indeed to double my starting salary.
35-40 years? HAHAHAHAHAHA.
I can retire after 25, and get my full pension after 30.
I’m almost exactly double what I made in my first job after college, which I got in 2000. So, 8 years to double.
If we went back to my very first job at $5/hour, if I’d worked it full-time, I’d be making about 5X that wage now. That was in 1996.
My first job (1999) was one of those lecturer-slaves who teach all the required intro courses at an unnamed big state school for the lavish wage of $25,000. After one year, I got a tenure-track job and hit double that in around 2004, so 5 years to double. It will be years before I triple, unless I decide to go take a teaching job in Qatar or UAE, where they basically pay hardship wages.
I’m going to start with my first full year in the Navy which was the first full-time income year. I more than doubled that in 5 years. The next doubling too about 5 years. Then I got off active duty, took a crappy job before landing my first engineering position. It was a little better than 2 years before I got back to where I was, and 11 years to double that. But I haven’t doubled that amount yet and I doubt that I will before I retire in 2 years.
I have come a long way in 34 years. That’s reassuring.
It took 5 1/2 years and a career change to double my first salary.
It took 3 years and another career change to triple it – but by then we were in the high-inflation 80’s. As Voyager noted upthread, 15% raises were run of the mill and not getting you anything more in terms of buying power.
Took me about 5 years for my salary to quadruple at my current job. Maybe closer to triple if you only count base pay.
I have been in the workforce full time for 12 years. I am nearly at 6x what my first full time wage is. Yes. It was that low 
My first job got me about 60,000 Dutch Guilders back in 1997. I doubled that roughly in 2003 or so. It’s a little hard to track, what with us switching to the Euro in 2002 and all. I’m currently makeing about EUR 95,000 a year, which would equate to 200,000 in Dutch Guilders, so that’s beyond the triple point.
In dollars, my first salary was about 30,000 at the then exchange rate. Currently it’s about 140,000 or so. But that’s hardly fair, I can’t help it your currency’s in the shitter.