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Here is my take on titles: When I'm working with someone, I don't care what their title is. If they can get done what needs to get done, great! If they can't

Here is my take on titles: When I'm working with someone, I don't care what their title is. If they can get done what needs to get done, great! If they can't, I don't rely on them anymore. I also hope people feel the same about me. When I started my career, I would get ignored because of my low title, even though I could do what was being asked. Now that I have a "high" title, people defer to me when they don't have to, and it's silly. I end up being a blocker because people won't move forward without my approval, even though I tell people I trust that my approval is implicit. This puts me in a weird place. One the one hand, I don't care what my title is, I just care about what my area of responsibly is. On the other hand, it seems like most people do care about titles, and more responsibility is only granted to people with high titles. So in that sense I do care about what my title is, only because it's what opens the door to greater responsibility. When I look for new jobs, I push on the title, not because I care for my own ego, but because everyone else does, and honestly I hate it.

throwawaysleep 3y ago
Making decisions without the final authority to officially make them adds to my risk if they don’t back the decision later. Taking that risk only makes sense if you seek internal raises and promotions. If you go externally for promos and raises, there is only downside to making decisions without the official authority. So I refuse to make any decisions at work at all as a low level grunt. Everything goes to some manager.
nine_zeros 3y ago
I am with you. This whole title nonsense actually makes the system predatory. Managers are asked to make seniors take status reports from juniors or whatever. And they want these things even if collaboration without titles is actually better for morale. It's almost like hierarchical monkeys want to impose hierarchy on others.

throwawaysleep 3y ago

Making decisions without the final authority to officially make them adds to my risk if they don’t back the decision later. Taking that risk only makes sense if you seek internal raises and promotions. If you go externally for promos and raises, there is only downside to making decisions without the official authority. So I refuse to make any decisions at work at all as a low level grunt. Everything goes to some manager.

nine_zeros 3y ago

I am with you. This whole title nonsense actually makes the system predatory. Managers are asked to make seniors take status reports from juniors or whatever. And they want these things even if collaboration without titles is actually better for morale. It's almost like hierarchical monkeys want to impose hierarchy on others.