What’s in a Title?

Absolutely nothing.

Ouch!  That’s going to hurt some people – some might not even be reading this part… or this part for that matter.  But here it is – a job title does not define you, it’s an indication of what you do, but not the complete picture.

Brain Surgeon – yup you’re good at that, but I’m sure you do more and maybe it’s not what defines you exactly.

Architect, Software Developer, Team Lead, Tech Lead, Director, VP, etc – I’ve been all these things and at the end of it – they are not nearly what defines me or stops me from working on a variety of projects in either of those roles.  Sometimes I’m building code, writing docs, making powerpoints, putting furniture together, buying paper, troubleshooting production bugs, working on batch invoice processes and yes… cleaning toilets – do you have a title for all those roles?

Doubtful.

So then why do we seek to have a title that purportedly shows our prestige in what we do?  At some point in your career under Title X you realize – “I’m just doing what needs to be done, to push the ball forward, make a difference and ship” – that can’t be a title but maybe it should be a slogan and maybe instead of trying to define ourselves with titles we should define ourselves with slogans instead.