Finding content in your job title

Ken Chase math at sizone.org
Wed Mar 31 04:36:08 UTC 2010


On Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 10:20:25PM -0500, Jorge Amodio said:
  >I'd say that probably around here for those like me that have been in
  >operations/engineering management positions we don't give a squat
  >about what title your biz card says you have, your actions and
  >performance speak by themselves.
  >
  >There are no kings around here so titles most of the time are worthless.
  >
  >By asking what title may impress others is sort of a -1 to start.

But you are wrong. Titles do speak and impress just not how you might expect.

Having a 'jokey' title signifies to other equally
free-to-operate-within-the-org people that you have the necessary freedom to
act outside the standard procedures when required. If you get away with "chief
evangelist" (as Mike Shaver had for a while at mozilla), not to mention his
other card which was "international incident" (possibly referring to a crypto
export situation?), you obviously have some independent (freedom from?)
authority and autonomy.

I managed to have Grizzled Internet Prospector on my card for a while at my
previous firm. It was as accurate as anything else I could put and indicated
to my peers that I was actually, well, an owner, eschewing a stuffy "CEO" or "COO"
title. (I had other sub companies with stuffy titles on them in case someone outside
the clued area needed to be placated.)

Another friend had "minister of fear" as his title at a network security firm.
At an exodus sponsored event which featured both Sun's XML accelerator
platform (?) and Bruce Schneier (the main attraction), he was originally
banned due to his joke title. The local industry slapped back through the
clued peoples' oldboys-n-girls network, and they backpedalled and he was
admitted at the last minute. It bit the exodus event organizer in the ass
hard, and had her eating crow for him in front of 30 of his peers at the event,
and handing over a free signed copy of Schneier's book. He really gained
notoriety and street cred from the situation, as silly as it was. Besting
the established order is worth something in most circles, still. (Google anyone?)

She obviously didnt understand the new business rules in effect: the jokey
title signified that titles didnt matter, reputation and ability did. Being
able to have a joke title indicates you dont need a real one. And so they're important
in a reverse-psychology kind of way :)

/kc (grizzled tube plumber)

  >
  >Cheers
  >Jorge
  >
  >On Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 10:14 PM, Steve Bertrand <steve at ibctech.ca> wrote:
  >> Hi all,
  >>
  >> This is perhaps a rather silly question, but one that I'd like to have
  >> answered.
  >>
  >> I'm young in the game, and over the years I've imagined numerous job
  >> titles that should go on my business card. They went from cool, to
  >> high-priority, to plain unimaginable.
  >>
  >> Now, after 10 years, I reflect back on what I've done, and what I do
  >> now. To me, if a business is loose-knit with no clear job descriptions
  >> or titles (ie. too small to have CXO etc), I feel that a business card
  >> should reflect what one feels is the primary job responsibility, or what
  >> they do the most (or love the most).
  >>
  >> For instance, I like to present myself as a 'network engineer'. I have
  >> never taken formal education, don't hold any certifications (well, since
  >> 2001), and can't necessarily prove my worth.
  >>
  >> How does the ops community feel about using this designation? Is it
  >> intrusive or offensive to those who hold real engineering degrees? I'm
  >> content with 'network manager', given that I still do perform (in my
  >> sleep) numerous system tasks and have to sometimes deal with front-line
  >> helpdesk stuff.
  >>
  >> Instead of acting like I'm trying to sell myself out, I'll leave out
  >> what I actually do and ask those who sig themselves with 'network
  >> engineer' what they do day-to-day to acquire that title, and if they
  >> feel comfortable with having it.
  >>
  >> Steve

-- 
Ken Chase - ken at heavycomputing.ca - +1 416 897 6284 - Toronto CANADA
Heavy Computing - Clued bandwidth, colocation and managed linux VPS @151 Front St. W.




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