23-Year-Old AI Billionaire Says Don’t Make This Career Mistake

Brendan Foody, the 23-year-old CEO of AI talent and data-labeling platform Mercor, thinks that young job candidates should stay at companies for longer stretches of time. When reviewing young applicants, Foody found that average tenure was shorter than he expected; they were staying at jobs for a year before jumping to the next big thing. 

Earlier this week, Foody wrote on X that he received “too many” job applications from young people who were “serial job hoppers.” These candidates “jump to the hottest company every year” because they are under the mistaken belief that “it looks good on a resume,” he said. 

“Too many people in my generation underestimate how much relationships, reputation, equity, and trust compound over time,” Foody wrote. He added, “But look at almost anyone who’s built something extraordinary: they weren’t serial job hoppers.”

Josh Elman, partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, replied to Foody’s post on X. 

“You are right that going from job to job without meaningful contributions nor closure is a bad pattern,” Elman wrote. “But it is worth going deeper with people who continue to work on important things at important times. That perspective compounds.”

Foody added in an email to Business Insider this week that employees should pursue new jobs for the “right reasons.” For example, they could have stopped learning at a particular job. 

“Moving because the work is better is very different from moving because a logo looks good on a resume,” he noted.

Foody is one of the youngest billionaires in the world, with a net worth of $2.2 billion at the time of writing, per Forbes.

Why Gen Z is prone to job-hopping

Gen Z has earned a reputation as the job-hopping generation. A 2021 report from careers site CareerBuilder found that Gen Z workers spent an average of two years and three months in a role, compared with two years and nine months for millennials, reinforcing the idea that younger workers cycle through jobs faster than older ones.

In a 2023 survey by consulting firm Oliver Wyman, 70% of Gen Z respondents in the U.S. and UK who described themselves as “loyal” to their employer were nonetheless actively looking for a new role.

Why has Gen Z taken to job-hopping? For years, switching jobs was closely linked with higher pay, which helped normalize frequent moves as a rational strategy rather than a red flag. For example, one employment attorney who spoke with Business Insider last year grew her salary from $40,000 to $225,000 in six years by strategically job-hopping. 

Foody said he was aware of the potential financial upside to job-hopping. “Switching jobs can often be the fastest way to get a raise or a title bump in the near term, so the incentive feels real,” he said in the email to Business Insider.

He added that compensation was increasing rapidly in San Francisco, the city he lives in, contributing to the desire to switch jobs. 

“In tech, and especially in AI right now, the pull is strong,” he wrote. “The grass always looks greener.”

Brendan Foody, the 23-year-old CEO of AI talent and data-labeling platform Mercor, thinks that young job candidates should stay at companies for longer stretches of time. When reviewing young applicants, Foody found that average tenure was shorter than he expected; they were staying at jobs for a year before jumping to the next big thing. 

Earlier this week, Foody wrote on X that he received “too many” job applications from young people who were “serial job hoppers.” These candidates “jump to the hottest company every year” because they are under the mistaken belief that “it looks good on a resume,” he said. 

“Too many people in my generation underestimate how much relationships, reputation, equity, and trust compound over time,” Foody wrote. He added, “But look at almost anyone who’s built something extraordinary: they weren’t serial job hoppers.”