I’ve done this every time I’ve looked for a job. If it’s the kind of company that would snoop on my browsing history and cause issues, it would just have motivated me to look harder 🙃

I’m speaking from my 20+ years of experience in tech, so this advice might not apply anywhere, but I’ve found the fastest way to keep increasing your salary is to switch jobs every couple of years. I usually got bored of a job in a couple of years anyway, so this also helped prevent burnout. Additionally, switching jobs at leisure like this meant I could negotiate new salaries harder at the new place and didn’t need to try and change jobs during an economic downturn or a bad job market.

Oh, and I’ve always regretted staying on in a company too long once I get the itch so I’d recommend starting a hunt as soon as you think a change might be good instead of waiting till you start hating your job!