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Yep, indeed. I'm technically the CTO of the startup I'm helping to found. And even though I'm 37, I haven't been in tech long enough to feel like I've earned th

Yep, indeed. I'm technically the CTO of the startup I'm helping to found. And even though I'm 37, I haven't been in tech long enough to feel like I've earned that title, so my LinkedIn says Chief Software Architect (I made it up).

camhart 5y ago
"It's interesting, these titles," Musk said. "You know that there's actually only three titles that actually mean anything for a corporation? It's president, secretary, and treasurer. And technically they can be the same person. And all these other titles are just basically made up. So CEO is a made-up title, CFO is a made-up title. General counsel, a made-up title. They don't mean anything." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXtjnNWUeAk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXtjnNWUeAk
- shard 5y ago
  I thought General Counsel means you have a JD?
  - shadowfox 5y ago
    You generally need that and typically reasonable experience wrangling different legal matters at scale. I guess Musk was just being Musk.
    - sam_lowry_ 5y ago
      I think that Musk is technically right.
    - Hermitian909 5y ago
      You'd need to be licensed to perform the various legal duties one expects of general counsel, but general counsel is not a protected title and thus anyone within the company could be given the title. Musk is right on this one.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - smorgusofborg 5y ago
    I think this quote is actually about a different point. The President, Secretary and Treasurer don't need any actual credentials for their role like a council needs a JD, but they have specific responsibility/liability in corporate legal structures.
  - HideousKojima 5y ago
    What Musk is saying is that from a legal perspective, there are only three job titles/roles that must be filled in a corporation. Beyond that, they could literally have titles like "Grand Chief Space Wizard" and "Cheesy Toast" for various jobs and roles. They could call the role of General Counsel "Asshole in a Suit."
    - inawarminister 5y ago
      IIRC Musk's job title in Tesla (?) now is 'Techno King'.
  - fleetwoodsnack 5y ago
    The man is plainly over-reaching here, though perhaps it's an expression meant to bolster his public persona, and not an actual representation of his knowledge. General counsel (at least in the Anglo-American context) means the senior legal advisor to an organization. As attorneys, they are required by law to have admission to the bar of the relevant jurisdiction, and to observe certain ethical standards and practices. This is not a made-up title and if it is that means there's a lawsuit for unauthorized practice of law that hasn't been filed yet.
  - bradknowles 5y ago
    Nope. I don’t know that you necessarily even need to have passed the bar exam in a given jurisdiction, much less have any kind of actual degree. IMO, you’d be stupid to take a job like that if you didn’t have the degree and have passed one or more bar exams in the appropriate related jurisdiction(s), but I don’t know that it’s actually required.
- danielvaughn 5y ago
  Love it. Yeah I find myself mentoring junior engineers, writing code myself, reading documentation on tech I've never worked with before, designing email templates, writing marketing copy, crafting business plans, calculating sweat equity, etc etc. So at the end of the day...tf do titles mean
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
radicalbyte 5y ago
How long have you been in tech? I'm 41 and have been in tech since I was 17 :) I've been calling myself an Architect but after working with some experienced CTOs.. lets say I now know my value/position. If I ever work for someone else then that's the minimum position I'd take.
- danielvaughn 5y ago
  I've got about 10 years of experience, I didn't discover my knack for programming until my late 20s, unfortunately.
noodlenotes 5y ago
The funny thing is that I might assume a CEO/CTO at a small startup has less experience than a "Chief Software Architect." My assumption would be that the executives are founders and that there's not a minimum experience requirement for founders.
- danielvaughn 5y ago
  Interesting, hadn't thought of that. But wouldn't you assume the same of an architect at a small startup?
  - rowanajmarshall 5y ago
    If you take the stereotypical Silicon Valley style start of 2-4 founders in their 20s or early 30s, someone is gonna be CTO, and there's a good chance they'll have relatively little experience. But a Chief Architect, I'd assume was an experienced early hire rather than a founder.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
bryanrasmussen 5y ago
I was one of the technical guys on a Danish standardization project called OIO - Offentlig Information Online (offentlig means governmental in this case) - at one time they decided that we needed 'titles', so I and one other guy decided we would call ourselves XML Architects as a piss-take on another part of the project. Got the business cards and everything, but ADHD me lost mine.

camhart 5y ago

"It's interesting, these titles," Musk said. "You know that there's actually only three titles that actually mean anything for a corporation? It's president, secretary, and treasurer. And technically they can be the same person. And all these other titles are just basically made up. So CEO is a made-up title, CFO is a made-up title. General counsel, a made-up title. They don't mean anything." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXtjnNWUeAk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXtjnNWUeAk

shard 5y ago
I thought General Counsel means you have a JD?
- shadowfox 5y ago
  You generally need that and typically reasonable experience wrangling different legal matters at scale. I guess Musk was just being Musk.
  - sam_lowry_ 5y ago
    I think that Musk is technically right.
  - Hermitian909 5y ago
    You'd need to be licensed to perform the various legal duties one expects of general counsel, but general counsel is not a protected title and thus anyone within the company could be given the title. Musk is right on this one.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- smorgusofborg 5y ago
  I think this quote is actually about a different point. The President, Secretary and Treasurer don't need any actual credentials for their role like a council needs a JD, but they have specific responsibility/liability in corporate legal structures.
- HideousKojima 5y ago
  What Musk is saying is that from a legal perspective, there are only three job titles/roles that must be filled in a corporation. Beyond that, they could literally have titles like "Grand Chief Space Wizard" and "Cheesy Toast" for various jobs and roles. They could call the role of General Counsel "Asshole in a Suit."
  - inawarminister 5y ago
    IIRC Musk's job title in Tesla (?) now is 'Techno King'.
- fleetwoodsnack 5y ago
  The man is plainly over-reaching here, though perhaps it's an expression meant to bolster his public persona, and not an actual representation of his knowledge. General counsel (at least in the Anglo-American context) means the senior legal advisor to an organization. As attorneys, they are required by law to have admission to the bar of the relevant jurisdiction, and to observe certain ethical standards and practices. This is not a made-up title and if it is that means there's a lawsuit for unauthorized practice of law that hasn't been filed yet.
- bradknowles 5y ago
  Nope. I don’t know that you necessarily even need to have passed the bar exam in a given jurisdiction, much less have any kind of actual degree. IMO, you’d be stupid to take a job like that if you didn’t have the degree and have passed one or more bar exams in the appropriate related jurisdiction(s), but I don’t know that it’s actually required.
danielvaughn 5y ago
Love it. Yeah I find myself mentoring junior engineers, writing code myself, reading documentation on tech I've never worked with before, designing email templates, writing marketing copy, crafting business plans, calculating sweat equity, etc etc. So at the end of the day...tf do titles mean
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

radicalbyte 5y ago

How long have you been in tech? I'm 41 and have been in tech since I was 17 :) I've been calling myself an Architect but after working with some experienced CTOs.. lets say I now know my value/position. If I ever work for someone else then that's the minimum position I'd take.

danielvaughn 5y ago
I've got about 10 years of experience, I didn't discover my knack for programming until my late 20s, unfortunately.

noodlenotes 5y ago

The funny thing is that I might assume a CEO/CTO at a small startup has less experience than a "Chief Software Architect." My assumption would be that the executives are founders and that there's not a minimum experience requirement for founders.

danielvaughn 5y ago
Interesting, hadn't thought of that. But wouldn't you assume the same of an architect at a small startup?
- rowanajmarshall 5y ago
  If you take the stereotypical Silicon Valley style start of 2-4 founders in their 20s or early 30s, someone is gonna be CTO, and there's a good chance they'll have relatively little experience. But a Chief Architect, I'd assume was an experienced early hire rather than a founder.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

bryanrasmussen 5y ago

I was one of the technical guys on a Danish standardization project called OIO - Offentlig Information Online (offentlig means governmental in this case) - at one time they decided that we needed 'titles', so I and one other guy decided we would call ourselves XML Architects as a piss-take on another part of the project. Got the business cards and everything, but ADHD me lost mine.