Compassion fatigue (CF) is increasingly prevalent among educators, affecting teachers across their career stages. CF tends to emerge early but can persist and intensify. While CF symptoms in teachers have been studied, there is a limited understanding of these symptoms across career stages. To address this knowledge gap, network analysis was employed to identify the core symptoms of CF and the connections between them. A national sample of 3816 teachers completed the Chinese version of the Professional Quality of Life Scale. Core CF symptoms were found to vary by career stage. The early stage centered on feeling "bogged down." CF in the middle stage was typified by a feeling of being "trapped in the job." In the mature stage, the symptoms included feeling "on edge" and "depressed due to teaching trauma." In the late stage, the central symptom was "tiredness and exhaustion." The findings revealed notable CF differences in teachers' career stages. Structural variations, symptom connections, and node strengths offer insights for customized interventions. This study enhances our understanding of changes in CF throughout teachers' careers, which is vital for addressing this issue in education.