4 ms·

I remember learning back at the beginning of my career that at places like Bell Labs and IBM, everybody who was anybody had the title "Member, Technical Staff"

I remember learning back at the beginning of my career that at places like Bell Labs and IBM, everybody who was anybody had the title "Member, Technical Staff" which was designed to be a low key humblebrag with the uniformity designed to quell egotistical agitation/competition for more and better titles. Then everybody who didn't work at those places wanted that title too. In banking, the title is "Vice President". It means virtually nothing, there are hundreds of them in every bank, a reason I heard was "otherwise nobody will take your calls." Many people in their 20s who go to business school to get their MBA have already been VPs at banks.

01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago
Truly a tale older than me. In the business card scene in the film "American Psycho", all the guys are Vice Presidents.
- icedchai 2y ago
  That's still very common in finance. It's a relatively low level title.
  - caseyohara 2y ago
    Isn’t the hierarchy Analyst < Associate < VP < SVP < Managing Director? This is why I always laugh when people point out title inflation in tech like it’s unique or egregious. Finance has been like this for much longer.
    - dh2022 2y ago
      There is a method behind this madness (... or rather title inflation). This webpage explains it pretty well (it is a bit tongue in cheek but it is Friday). https://epicureandealmaker.blogspot.com/2013/03/curriculum-vitae.html https://epicureandealmaker.blogspot.com/2013/03/curriculum-v...
    - aix1 2y ago
      A variant I've seen (at a couple of European investment banks): Analyst -> Associate -> Assistant VP -> VP -> Director -> Managing Director
- sys_64738 2y ago
  VP in my group had only 8 people under him. It's just a glorified manager although you do get a desk at the end of the row backed against the wall.
Spooky23 2y ago
Yes! Government is even funnier. There’s a whole hierarchy of Assistant, Associate, Deputy Commissioners. Is it better to be a Special Assistant to the Associate Commissioner, or the Assistant Deputy Commissioner?
- 9dev 2y ago
  Sounds like an AbstractContainerFactoryManagerInterface to me :)
  - moogly 2y ago
    "Bean counter" gets a whole new meaning.
variaga 2y ago
>I remember learning back at the beginning of my career that at places like Bell Labs and IBM, everybody who was anybody had the title "Member, Technical Staff" which was designed to be a low key humblebrag Ha! I learned that when I was quitting a senior engineer job (around 2000) and my manager said if I they'd make me a "member of (the) technical staff". Since I had never heard of such a title before (I would have been the first MTS at that company) my response was roughly "(a) aren't I part of the technical staff already? And (b) you're "offering" to strip my "senior" title? And my "engineer" title? WTF? I'm quitting already, you didn't have to be insulting about it" The confusion was cleared up, eventually, but that conversation definitely didn't go the way my manager expected it to (and I still quit - no regrets). Honestly, I still don't think the MTS/Staff Eng. labels make any sense. My last few & current employers use "principal eng." for the same job function, which just seems so much clearer.

01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago

Truly a tale older than me. In the business card scene in the film "American Psycho", all the guys are Vice Presidents.

icedchai 2y ago
That's still very common in finance. It's a relatively low level title.
- caseyohara 2y ago
  Isn’t the hierarchy Analyst < Associate < VP < SVP < Managing Director? This is why I always laugh when people point out title inflation in tech like it’s unique or egregious. Finance has been like this for much longer.
  - dh2022 2y ago
    There is a method behind this madness (... or rather title inflation). This webpage explains it pretty well (it is a bit tongue in cheek but it is Friday). https://epicureandealmaker.blogspot.com/2013/03/curriculum-vitae.html https://epicureandealmaker.blogspot.com/2013/03/curriculum-v...
  - aix1 2y ago
    A variant I've seen (at a couple of European investment banks): Analyst -> Associate -> Assistant VP -> VP -> Director -> Managing Director
sys_64738 2y ago
VP in my group had only 8 people under him. It's just a glorified manager although you do get a desk at the end of the row backed against the wall.

Spooky23 2y ago

Yes! Government is even funnier. There’s a whole hierarchy of Assistant, Associate, Deputy Commissioners. Is it better to be a Special Assistant to the Associate Commissioner, or the Assistant Deputy Commissioner?

9dev 2y ago
Sounds like an AbstractContainerFactoryManagerInterface to me :)
- moogly 2y ago
  "Bean counter" gets a whole new meaning.

variaga 2y ago

>I remember learning back at the beginning of my career that at places like Bell Labs and IBM, everybody who was anybody had the title "Member, Technical Staff" which was designed to be a low key humblebrag Ha! I learned that when I was quitting a senior engineer job (around 2000) and my manager said if I they'd make me a "member of (the) technical staff". Since I had never heard of such a title before (I would have been the first MTS at that company) my response was roughly "(a) aren't I part of the technical staff already? And (b) you're "offering" to strip my "senior" title? And my "engineer" title? WTF? I'm quitting already, you didn't have to be insulting about it" The confusion was cleared up, eventually, but that conversation definitely didn't go the way my manager expected it to (and I still quit - no regrets). Honestly, I still don't think the MTS/Staff Eng. labels make any sense. My last few & current employers use "principal eng." for the same job function, which just seems so much clearer.