I've had 4 jobs in 4 years. I mastered the pivot regardless of the circumstances, and now I've found success on my own.

• 28-year-old Megan Lieu worked at four companies in the last four years.
• Lieu increased her salary as she changed jobs and learned new skills.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with 28-year-old Megan Lieu. This essay has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider verified her identity, employment, and pay rates.

I remember telling a coworker on one of my first days at my finance job out of college that I could see myself staying there and retiring.

Looking back, that was such a naive notion. How was I supposed to know this was the only job for me if I had never experienced anything else?

I stayed at my first job for about two years and moved around every year or so since then. Over the last four years, I've worked at four different companies.

The first two role changes I sought out myself. Then I was laid off from the third company, and in my last job I was fired. At that point, I decided to create my own business, where I'm set to earn more annually than I did with any of my previous jobs.

As someone who's both quit and lost my job, I realize you can have good things and bad things come out of your career. But the key is being able to adapt.

Here's how I made the most out of every pivot.

The paycheck bump

At the two-year mark at my first job, the pandemic was coming to an end, and everybody and their mother was landing a tech job.

Around that time, I discovered data analytics and data science. As somebody who never experienced anything besides finance, it felt like a world of possibility — and that's where the job-hopping came about for me.

When I switched to my second job out of college, I received a salary increase of about 20% and I felt like the possibilities were endless. I stayed nine months at that job and received a $5,000 increase during my time there before transitioning to my third job.

From my second to third job, I received a salary increase of about 20% and stayed there for about a year and a half before being laid off. That was when the job market started to slow down and it became all about hunkering down in your current job.

I thought I wouldn't be able to find another job quickly or one that paid as well, but I ended up finding a new role within three weeks, and I got close to a 50% salary increase from that. Within a few weeks, I went from making $125,000 to $185,000.

While it wasn't necessarily a job hop, I framed my mindset to be that even if you're not actively job-hopping, there are always better opportunities out there.

Working in different roles helped improve my skillset

It wasn't just the paycheck bump for me, it was the ability to gain diverse skill sets that I wouldn't have if I stayed put.

If you stay only in places you're familiar with, you never grow.

By some people's definitions, my stints at these companies may seem short. But I didn't feel challenged, and I was ready for the next thing.

Each pivot exposed me to different coworkers, mindsets, and cultures. Plus, I maintained some continuity in my roles and each position provided baseline knowledge for the next. For example, I was a data analyst in my second job, which was a prerequisite for becoming a data scientist in my third job. Now, I create technical content for data and tech companies, which I am able to do because I was a data science practitioner first.

After months of being unhappy at my last job, my manager put me on a PIP that I very much welcomed. There needed to be some kind of change in my role or else I was ready to leave because I was being stretched so thin. The PIP I was put on had me acting as a salesperson, which was never in my job description and it was not something I was capable of doing or willing to do.

After back-and-forth disagreements, I was eventually terminated from the company.

At that point, I was able to step into my side contracting business full time and put effort into something I had been passionate about all along. Creating technical content for companies was something I started dabbling in after I was laid off and I realized I couldn't give all the power to one employer. It was a very seamless transition and one I was very happy to make.

Since the beginning of 2024, I've signed nearly $200,000 worth of contracts for my business.

I would say job pivoting has not only paid off in terms of my earnings increasing, but also my mental wellbeing. I now report to no one but myself, and I finally get to make a living on my own terms.