Ask HN: Worked for one company for more than 5 years? What kept you there?

I stayed at one employer for 4 years. I was recognized for my ability/vision and I was shuffled within the company often so that I had interesting work and (at least in theory) a high impact on the culture.

I left because ultimately there was too much friction between my methods/goals and those of the incumbents. I had buy-in from upper management but they lacked the conviction to really support the changes necessary.

I tend to not get emotionally invested in a given organization anymore and as a result I've taken to consulting.

Worked for about 7 years at a smaller (50-100 people) satellite office of a large corporation that mostly ignored us.

+ Small enough IT department so I got to wear many hats and learn a lot.

+ I wasn't the _only_ IT person, so there were others I could bounce ideas off of.

+ Boss was supportive when I wanted to go from sysadmin to developer.

- Wasn't enough development work available at the office to do full time.

- Corporate remembered us and started to order layoffs. Eventually every other member of my team was gone.

The economy went into the trash right as I decided it was time to leave, so I stayed a few years longer than I wanted to.

More money wouldn't have kept me there any longer.

visa

>What did the company do that made you want to stay?

I liked my co-workers, and was not exposed to petty power games or big egos.

>What would have kept you around longer?

Kill off the petty power games and big egos that came along later. Money and respect, when I left they still had me listed as a new grad with <2 years experience along with the associated shit pay. The company wasn't really growing so there wasn't room to advance or build new products.