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They're all vice presidents there? American Psycho is becoming truer every day. the ruling gives Goldman an incentive to keep the ambiguous language in place s
by spindritf 12y ago
They're all vice presidents there? American Psycho is becoming truer every day.
the ruling gives Goldman an incentive to keep the ambiguous language in place so it can reserve the right to make “unpredictable post hoc determinations about which former employees should be advanced attorney’s fees and which shouldn’t,” Fuentes wrote.
Maybe there's some selection bias going, or I'm a contrarian, but somehow dissents usually make more sense than rulings.
- tlrobinson 12y agoYeah, GS has something like 12,000 "Vice Presidents", or ~40% of their employees. https://www.quora.com/How-come-Goldman-Sachs-has-12-000-VPs https://www.quora.com/How-come-Goldman-Sachs-has-12-000-VPs
- dmitri1981 12y agoVice President is a mid ranking title in an investment bank for anyone with about 5 to 6 years experience.
- ianstallings 12y agoI think the term pomp and circumstance is completely appropriate in this case.
- jmsdnns 12y agoThat's how Bear Stearns was when I was there, 26, and a VP. The title is pegged to the salary, not responsibilities.
- ianstallings 12y agoSerious question, does that make your job search harder when you leave to a place that doesn't hand out VP titles? People seem to be very particular about titles. Edit: Why did someone down vote me for asking a question? Don't be so goddam sensitive.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- bushido 12y ago> does that make your job search harder when you leave to a place that doesn't hand out VP titles? Doesn't make the job search harder within the financial industry. In my experience the majority people are recruited/courted extensively for positions in the industry, hence it's not quite a "job search" in the majority of the cases. On the other hand, if they could choose other titles, on the lines of "lead guitar" they may have trouble with job search. People generally seem to be very particular about industry-based titles.
- ianstallings 12y agoI agree, with such a stupid title as "lead guitar" people would never know how important I am and they might not court me. Which I am dying to do. I hope to have one day a whole wall filled with titles, certificates, and bonafides that I can point to and say "look at all those pieces of paper". Because writing software, well that's just a distraction from my real job - getting important titles..
- kasey_junk 12y agoThis doesn't come up much for me as I tend to come into places via reccomendation, but when I do deal with it, I just craft my resume to the expectations of the prospective job.
- kevinskii 12y agoI downvoted your question because it contributes nothing to the discussion at hand and is unlikely to lead to any interesting side topic. That's all. Don't be so goddamn sensitive.
- ianstallings 12y agoBut it does add to the discussion. It's a serious question about titles, pomp and circumstance, and it's repercussions on one's chosen career. As for interesting discussion, uh, look below. Sensitive Susan.
- loumf 12y agoSomeone once told me (but, I don't know if it's true) that you need the VP title to be able to sign off on trades, which is essentially a contract. That started a culture of proliferating the VP title.
- jrockway 12y agoStandard investment bank titles. At BofA, where I worked, the progression was Officer -> Assistant VP -> VP -> Director -> Managing Director. In the software world, this is something like SWE II, SWE III, Senior SWE, Staff SWE, Senior Staff SWE. The titles in the software world don't make much sense either.
- Cookingboy 12y agoYou don't happen to work for Google do you? ;)
- ianstallings 12y agoMan somedays I am just so happy to work for startups. I get to choose my own title. My last one was lead guitar, but it ended up confusing people so I changed it to just "lead". My current one is "software guy". Edit: Oh sorry, I didn't know this was a serious topic, for serious discussion only. I'll just take my awesome title and go live it up, doing what the fuck I want. Have fun filling out your TPS reports.
- legohead 12y agoThis isn't reddit. HN is serious business.
- ianstallings 12y agoThe funny thing is I was being serious. I guess people just didn't like what I said. So then I turned it up a notch with the edit. Because, well, I am who I am.
- vinceguidry 12y agoI'm pretty sure legohead was being facetious.
- jtfairbank 12y agoI was thinking of assigning everyone a fun title, and specific responsibilities to go along with it. For example, a staff member who worked as a barista in a former life could be the "Caffeine Queen" and make delicious caffeinated drinks for our team (only if she wanted to and time permitted, of course). Or I would be Senior VP of silly hats, and ensure everyone has access to a hat incase they needed to change their identity in a hurry.
- mcpherrinm 12y agoAmerican Psycho's use of VP was a reflection of the existing banking culture: It is not becoming truer; it already was.
- mbesto 12y agoThere is a proliferation of VPs in financial institutions because it makes their clients feel like they are dealing with someone senior. Serious.