[sub]And please remember, life’s REAL expensive here… :eek:[/sub]
I got my first real, full-time job out of college in March of 2006, at a little more than $31,000 a year.
At the end of this March, I’ll be starting a new job at almost $62,000.
It’s not exactly double, but close enough. So let’s call it 2 years. (To be fair, I finished a master’s degree and had another job in between, and that explains some of the bump.)
I thought I heard the clomp clomp of wooden shoes. 
Welcome back.
About 9 years to double, then about another 6 years to triple. I took a bit of time off that path, but went back into the same line last year, and now make slightly more than triple what I first made*, going on 20 years later this summer.
*In some ways my old job paid more with good profit sharing, I had a good chunk put away before. My current job has bonuses and a couple of other things that might be nicer. So it’s not exactly apples to apples comparison, but maybe apples to pears.
I’m over 10 times my starting intern salary from back in 1983. Thank Og. But it took about 25 years.
Since I finished school in the 1970s inflation makes this all a bit tough to calculate. But if we forget about inflation it took about five years to double and six or seven to triple. If we include inflation maybe an extra three years for each. Without inflation I’m making about 15 times as much now. If we adjust for inflation I’m earning 4.5 times as much.
Currently, I’m making roughly twice as much as I was making in May 2002, so almost 6 years. Thank god I’m no longer a post-doc!
Compared to my first full-time post-college job (in 1995), I think I doubled my salary in 2002, but that was a combination of three different jobs with at least two going at any given time. It was definitely doubled by 2003. I doubled the 2002 figure just four years later.
If we are looking at first real professional job, it took me about 2 years to double it and 4 years to triple it.
I should hit the double mark this April when we get our job appraisals.
It’s taken about 5 yrs, but I started out in Local Govt. where wages are 40-50% lower for the same job than the private sector I’m in now.
I could do the same job on a contract basis, which would double my current salary, but it’s less secure (which is the balance to be made).
Same here - it took 20 years in my case 
It took me about seven years to double it. I’m in no danger of tripling it, I can assure you.
Another government employee here, with 21+ years in the same job out of law school.
Doubled my salary in ~ 6 years, and tripled it in ~ 11. Since I was hired, I believe they hire attorneys at a higher level than I was.
Currently make ~ 5X what I was hired at in '86. Barring unforeseen events I’m pretty close to my max rating now, tho I will continue to recieve annual COLAs.
Well as my first job was fairly low paying (part time admin/reception work in a doctors’ surgery - £10,000 a year) it wasn’t hard to double my salary. It took me 3 years to make double (when I was a temp my salary was equivalent to over £20k) but I had to take a pay cut to enter the civil service which is where I work now which set me back a bit. I’m currently at X2.7 (10 years into my career) and will be at X3.5 after my next promotion (probably by the end of this year or during the next) so that’ll be 10/11 years to triple.
The most I can realistically expect to make in central government (at today’s rates of pay/inflation) will be £60K but that would involve going a grade higher than I think I’d really like to, so probably more like £52K (and I could feasibly be earning that by 40) - not that great but not bad either. However if you convert all those £ into $ then I don’t think my earnings are too shabby at all.
Huh. I graduated in 95. I still haven’t doubled. In fact, I currently make about 80% of my first job’s salary, but that’s because they don’t pay social science grad students all that much. If all goes well, I might get a job that doubles my first salary in 2010, but I will not be holding my breath.
I’m looking at my SSA earnings statement, which starts in 1963.
My first double took 10 years, 1969-1979. The next doubling took almost 20 years! At retirement age, my earnings were just 10 times what they were when I started working, a period of 40 years. I never did have any ambition.
Currently on my one year internship making less than I did hourly in graduate school. Luckily, my pittance of a salary makes it easy to double, which I should do next year on post-doc.
After that, it depends on if I want to/can stay with the government or want to/can get into private practice.
My first “job” out of college was the same job I had in college, except I was a part timer working 40 hours through a hiring freeze, paying for my own benefits. It took me about 18 months to double that. I can’t remember how long it took me to triple it, but I’ve quintupled it in about six years.
My first full time gig was for the local government, and not related to either my major or my eventual career field. Took me four years to double it, and one more year to triple it.
I doubled my base about 2 1/2 years ago which was 4 years out of college.
By next year I should have tripled it.
Worked my ass off and gave up a lot for the company - starting to reap rewards now as I get my pick of assignments and the money & benefits aren’t bad at all 