# I've been 15 years at the same company
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [October 19, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367 "2009-10-19T18:12:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/1 "2009-10-19T18:12:48Z")
I just got a service award for being 15 years at the same company. (Not the same job; I 've gotten promotions and raises over the years.)
As a software person in Silicon Valley, that’s pretty unusual, I think.
ETA: I’ve lived through several company mergers, and more downsizings than I can count. But somehow I’ve survived them all.
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### Author:  [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/2 "2009-10-19T18:18:22Z")
Meh, going on 30 here.
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### Author:  [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/3 "2009-10-19T18:22:05Z")
I was approaching my 15 with perfect reviews and rasies each year when I was laid off. Don’t know how senior one needed to be to survive there.
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### Author:  [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/4 "2009-10-19T18:30:58Z")
Just over 21 here.
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/5 "2009-10-19T18:40:43Z")
I’ve got over 27 years spread out between two “careers” with the same company. I took an early retirement offer in 2001, spent 5 years traveling around, and hired back on in 2006. Only a little while until I can bridge that time together and be eligible for 6 weeks of vacation. 😃
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### Author:  [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/6 "2009-10-19T21:28:29Z")
I’m approaching the ten year mark for working at this firm. The previous longest time I stayed at one place was seven years.
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### Author:  [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/7 "2009-10-19T22:42:11Z")
/me does the math.
Crap, that can’t be right. It’s, like _18_ years for me.
Wow.
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### Author:  [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2009, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/8 "2009-10-20T01:20:36Z")
I worked for one company for 21.5 years, and I’ve now just passed 14 years with this one. There can’t be many in the IT industry that have only worked for 2 companies in over 35 years.
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### Author:  [@Taters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taters)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/9 "2009-10-20T02:08:04Z")
I’ve got 26 years in with Department of the Army. I’m a civilian, though. I’ve held various jobs and gotten promotions throughout my “career”. I’m hoping I can maybe, just maybe eke out one more grade promotion, but if I don’t, no biggie. I do alright.
I can retire in 11 years at age 56. I’ll have served a total of 37 years. Sadly, I’m really looking forward to it.
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### Author:  [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/10 "2009-10-20T02:54:52Z")
I’m approaching five years at mine.
No promotions, though I badly deserve one
☹
Decent raises in years 1-3. Then the economy tanked and corporate figured out a basic rule - “hey,you don’t like it, find a new job! Heh! We dare you!”
☹
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### Author:  [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/11 "2009-10-20T03:10:47Z")
I was a federal employee for 30 years, 7 months when I retired.
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### Author:  [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/12 "2009-10-20T17:53:14Z")
My mom would have been at the same company for over 40 years, except she left to go farm. Once farming started to suck financially, she got back on at the same place. It’s now been 23 years.
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### Author:  [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/13 "2009-10-20T18:12:03Z")
I’ll hit my 20-year mark in March…that is, if I don’t get laid off or the company doesn’t fold. I have no illusions that I am bullet proof.
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### Author:  [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/14 "2009-10-20T18:39:31Z")
I’m at fourteen years and a couple months at my current job. The company I work for has been bought and sold three different times since I’ve been here. Luckily I’ve managed to survive a couple of rounds of layoffs so far and hopefully can make it to the fifteen year mark.
Oh, and my mom is retiring at the end of the month after having worked in the same doctor’s office for twenty years. My dad worked for the same company for nearly forty years. I guess it just runs in the family.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/15 "2009-10-20T18:55:33Z")
Eleven years here. Not terribly uncommon for public librarians of a certain age. A little more rare for one with no managerial aspirations, though.
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/16 "2009-10-20T19:14:34Z")
A few days shy of 21 years, here… sort of 🙂
I was hired into the consulting division of one of the Big Eight accounting firms. A couple of mergers and name changes later, and the entire consulting division was sold to another company. So, I haven’t changed jobs and for vacation calculation etc. I’m treated as having been employed “here” for 20+ years.
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### Author:  [@tacoloco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tacoloco)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/17 "2009-10-20T19:38:28Z")
I was with Digital -\> Compaq -\> HP for 24 years before being “laid off” at the end of 2004. Like the OP I had many different jobs starting with being a field tech to Unix operating system development technical lead. I was in operating system SQA when the axe fell.
The Digital culture was one where if you could show you had the skills to do the job, you could move into a different position. I went from the lowest entry level position to a very senior position over the years. I didn’t have much in the way of a college education, but I worked hard, kept learning and was smart enough to take new opportunities when they presented themselves.
And from the relationships I made there I found my two post HP jobs, including my current one, where I’m in a senior SQA position.
I feel very fortunate for the opportunities I’ve been given.
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### Author:  [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-15-years-at-the-same-company/514367/18 "2009-10-21T02:16:12Z")
Twenty eight years for me. A lady I often see at work has been there 37. I’m appreciative and feel very fortunate. Though, I do also know some valuable history, and think there are several ways it’s in a company’s interest to keep its most senior members. I hope this give and take keeps working!