I recently read an article in the New York Times (Do Job Titles Really Matter?) regarding the significance of Job Titles, and it made me ponder the question: How Important are titles?
The author pointed out both side of the argument. On one hand, you have the group of individuals who care a great deal about their titles, and believe that titles carry a good deal of weight. The counter argument is that your title doesn’t matter; it’s your day-to-day duties and their impact on the organization. Personally, I prefer the latter.
Working as a Technical Recruiter (yes, that’s my title), I peruse hundreds of resumes each week, so I would like to think that I have seen about 98% of the IT Titles out there. I’ve seen everything from the standards, Senior Project Manager to Application Engineer, but I’ve also came across titles (yes, on resumes) like Master .Net Ninja and Mobile Rockstar. To me this screams that the societal norms surrounding titles are shifting, even if it’s just within the IT sector.
With that being said, I have had deals fall through because the position was titled an “Analyst” and not an “Engineer.” To me that’s absurd, but again there are some valid reasons for placing stock in a title. Some people believe that certain titles command more respect than others or that it means they’ve reached a life goal.
Honestly, I can see some validity in that. But from my perspective, you could give me the title of “Voicemail Assassin” or “Introduction Facilitator” and that would not change my day-to-day role or view on my position.
There again, that is only my opinion. What do you think? Feel free to comment or drop me a piece of mail with your thoughts.