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My grandfather wrote his own HTML website from scratch. Technically he could be called a "senior programmer", but without further context most people would assu

My grandfather wrote his own HTML website from scratch. Technically he could be called a "senior programmer", but without further context most people would assume that he is an experienced programmer, not just an elderly one. It's the same problem here; in the context of Microsoft job titles, "distinguished engineer" means the person is very highly paid and is at top of their field. It's not incorrect to use that title, per se, but it can be misleading, which is why the commenter above brought it up. It also adds to the confusion when the entire title is in lowercase, if it was written as "distinguished Senior Database Engineer", it would not be as potentially misleading. Anyway, the wording was changed in his bio so it's a moot point now.

pyre 12y ago
> in the context of Microsoft job titles, "distinguished engineer" means the person is very highly paid and is at top of their field. How many people (even in tech) know that "Distinguished Engineer" is a specific, special title at Microsoft?
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- neurobro 12y ago
  Probably 50-100,000 among their employees, ex-employees, aspiring employees, partners, contractors, and people who've seen it mentioned somewhere like this (including me and you, now).
- smm2000 12y ago
  Google, Oracle and Amazon among others have Distinguished Engineer title so quite a few people know about it.
- dbshapco 12y ago
  DE has meaning outside of Microsoft. I recognize it, and am not in Microsoft's orbit. Generally it's one step above Senior Principal Engineer and considered an executive position. That said, tech titles have not normalized as much as executive titles. The general progression I've witnessed is (with managerial level set): - Engineer - Senior Engineer (Team Leader) - Principal Engineer (Manager) - Senior Principal Engineer (Senior Manager) - Distinguished Engineer (Director) - C[TI]O (C-Level) Oddly there's no level set to [AS]VP positions. Engineering tolerates less hierarchy. Also DE (and all tech ladder positions) are a recognition of sphere of influence over technical acumen as follows: - Engineer (own work) - Senior Engineer (team) - Principal Engineer (department) - Senior Principal Engineer (corporation) - Distinguished Engineer (industry sector) - C[TI]O (corporation and broader industry) YMMV
isabella1985 12y ago
But the key here is "most people", most people don't know that distinguished engineer is a title at MS and would just assume that he was a well respected engineer at MS. It isn't fair to compare two dictionary definitions of a word, to what is a fairly little known outside the company title structure at MS. There were three descriptors of the word "engineer" senior, database and distinguished. Turns out Mr. Shamgunov's title was Senior Engineer, I didn't read it as his literal title but more like a description of what he did at MS. Database wasn't in his official title either but it still applies. Seems kinda weird that people are so touchy about titles, seems so unSV.

pyre 12y ago

> in the context of Microsoft job titles, "distinguished engineer" means the person is very highly paid and is at top of their field. How many people (even in tech) know that "Distinguished Engineer" is a specific, special title at Microsoft?

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
neurobro 12y ago
Probably 50-100,000 among their employees, ex-employees, aspiring employees, partners, contractors, and people who've seen it mentioned somewhere like this (including me and you, now).
smm2000 12y ago
Google, Oracle and Amazon among others have Distinguished Engineer title so quite a few people know about it.
dbshapco 12y ago
DE has meaning outside of Microsoft. I recognize it, and am not in Microsoft's orbit. Generally it's one step above Senior Principal Engineer and considered an executive position. That said, tech titles have not normalized as much as executive titles. The general progression I've witnessed is (with managerial level set): - Engineer - Senior Engineer (Team Leader) - Principal Engineer (Manager) - Senior Principal Engineer (Senior Manager) - Distinguished Engineer (Director) - C[TI]O (C-Level) Oddly there's no level set to [AS]VP positions. Engineering tolerates less hierarchy. Also DE (and all tech ladder positions) are a recognition of sphere of influence over technical acumen as follows: - Engineer (own work) - Senior Engineer (team) - Principal Engineer (department) - Senior Principal Engineer (corporation) - Distinguished Engineer (industry sector) - C[TI]O (corporation and broader industry) YMMV

isabella1985 12y ago

But the key here is "most people", most people don't know that distinguished engineer is a title at MS and would just assume that he was a well respected engineer at MS. It isn't fair to compare two dictionary definitions of a word, to what is a fairly little known outside the company title structure at MS. There were three descriptors of the word "engineer" senior, database and distinguished. Turns out Mr. Shamgunov's title was Senior Engineer, I didn't read it as his literal title but more like a description of what he did at MS. Database wasn't in his official title either but it still applies. Seems kinda weird that people are so touchy about titles, seems so unSV.