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    Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved IT Careers
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    • ObsolesceO
      Obsolesce
      last edited by

      But anyways, I am not saying I want or should have a project manager title. So I'm not arguing for it. Just trying to understand the article, but is starting to look like Scott described a bit above.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • scottalanmillerS
        scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
        last edited by

        @Obsolesce said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

        So you don't fully manage IT projects from start to finish according to that definition? I do that every day. Full planning and execution of IT related projects...

        Planning and execution of the PROJECT, not the actual doing of it. No, none of us do that. It's rare, and unneeded. You are confusing the idea of doing the work, versus being a manager of the project process.

        Example... building a new server.

        The PM work of managing the project is like 60 seconds of work. The tech labour might be a day or two.

        ObsolesceO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • scottalanmillerS
          scottalanmiller
          last edited by

          There are two pieces with the PM thing...

          1. We don't do that many projects unless you are considering things like "resetting a password" to be a tiny little project.
          2. We don't spend any significant time managing the project versus doing the work of the project.
          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • jmooreJ
            jmoore
            last edited by

            I never understood why some have the engineer title. I guess times have changed but that used to mean one very specific thing and it had nothing to do with computers. Now programmers, network people, and just plain managers will have that title. It doesn't make any sense to me especially being so broad now.

            scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • ObsolesceO
              Obsolesce @scottalanmiller
              last edited by

              @scottalanmiller said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

              Planning and execution of the PROJECT, not the actual doing of it.

              Ah, there it is. That's where the disconnect was. That's totally correct and I completely overlooked that.

              So yeah, wtf is that person talking about then?

              scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • scottalanmillerS
                scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
                last edited by

                @Obsolesce said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                @scottalanmiller said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                Planning and execution of the PROJECT, not the actual doing of it.

                Ah, there it is. That's where the disconnect was. That's totally correct and I completely overlooked that.

                So yeah, wtf is that person talking about then?

                LOL, yeah. 🙂

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • scottalanmillerS
                  scottalanmiller @jmoore
                  last edited by

                  @jmoore said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                  I never understood why some have the engineer title. I guess times have changed but that used to mean one very specific thing and it had nothing to do with computers.

                  And that one specific thing is what? I bet you can't get people to agree - there was never just a single kind of engineer.

                  As someone with a traditional engineering background, I can tell you that it was never just one thing or very clear.

                  And while it predated computers (by millennia), it also predated arches, screws, and other basics that almost every traditional engineer uses today. Engineers work with and on what exists at the time, so even engineering in the classical sense would mean computers too if applied today. The term hasn't changed, the tools of the trade have.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • scottalanmillerS
                    scottalanmiller
                    last edited by

                    0_1541431704525_Screenshot from 2018-11-05 09-28-11.png

                    a person who is trained in or follows as a profession a branch of engineering is the bit that applies to what we are discussing.

                    Software and systems are two branches of engineering. Along with things like civil, chemical, ceramic, mechanical, electrical, computer, manufacturing, manufacturing systems, industrial, petroleum, and so forth.

                    ObsolesceO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • ObsolesceO
                      Obsolesce @scottalanmiller
                      last edited by

                      @scottalanmiller said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                      0_1541431704525_Screenshot from 2018-11-05 09-28-11.png

                      a person who is trained in or follows as a profession a branch of engineering is the bit that applies to what we are discussing.

                      Software and systems are two branches of engineering. Along with things like civil, chemical, ceramic, mechanical, electrical, computer, manufacturing, manufacturing systems, industrial, petroleum, and so forth.

                      We're all engineers while we drive a car, technically, according to #4.

                      scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • scottalanmillerS
                        scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
                        last edited by

                        @Obsolesce said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                        We're all engineers while we drive a car, technically, according to #4.

                        That's correct. But not the same kind of engineer 🙂

                        That's engineer like we say "train engineer".

                        In Spanish it is "conductor". Which we also use for trains. But can be applied to cars or BigWheels or whatever.

                        JaredBuschJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • JaredBuschJ
                          JaredBusch @scottalanmiller
                          last edited by

                          @scottalanmiller said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                          BigWheels or whatever.

                          0_1541441598420_0b9d1ddd-00e2-4c3a-b7f9-098b5220f0a5-image.png

                          ObsolesceO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • ObsolesceO
                            Obsolesce @JaredBusch
                            last edited by Obsolesce

                            @JaredBusch said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                            @scottalanmiller said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                            BigWheels or whatever.

                            0_1541441598420_0b9d1ddd-00e2-4c3a-b7f9-098b5220f0a5-image.png

                            Child engineer.
                            Junior Engineer.

                            scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • scottalanmillerS
                              scottalanmiller @Obsolesce
                              last edited by

                              @Obsolesce said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                              @JaredBusch said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                              @scottalanmiller said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                              BigWheels or whatever.

                              0_1541441598420_0b9d1ddd-00e2-4c3a-b7f9-098b5220f0a5-image.png

                              Child engineer.

                              Be PC dude, they are called Juniors.

                              ObsolesceO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                              • ObsolesceO
                                Obsolesce @scottalanmiller
                                last edited by

                                @scottalanmiller said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                                @Obsolesce said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                                @JaredBusch said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                                @scottalanmiller said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                                BigWheels or whatever.

                                0_1541441598420_0b9d1ddd-00e2-4c3a-b7f9-098b5220f0a5-image.png

                                Child engineer.

                                Be PC dude, they are called Juniors.

                                Fixed.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • scottalanmillerS
                                  scottalanmiller
                                  last edited by

                                  And for the interns...

                                  Toy_baby_car_smart_bug_668R.jpg

                                  ObsolesceO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                  • ObsolesceO
                                    Obsolesce @scottalanmiller
                                    last edited by

                                    @scottalanmiller said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                                    And for the interns...

                                    Toy_baby_car_smart_bug_668R.jpg

                                    Wow, fancy...

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • dave247D
                                      dave247
                                      last edited by dave247

                                      I'm actually dealing with this right now. I was asked by my boss to come up with a better job title for myself since I am basically a system administrator, network administrator, server administrator, IT manager, among other things.

                                      I think job titles are a good thing simply as a starting point descriptor of what a person's job role is. It shouldn't determine pay as much as all the line items that are listed in your actual job description. Of course, there are issues with a job title if you are someone with a ton of roles -- things that would be multiple roles at a bigger company, for example.

                                      That said, I've landed on IT Administrator since it seems to encompass everything and sounds better than "IT Generalist".

                                      DashrenderD scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • DashrenderD
                                        Dashrender @dave247
                                        last edited by

                                        @dave247 said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                                        I'm actually dealing with this right now. I was asked by my boss to come up with a better job title for myself since I am basically a system administrator, network administrator, server administrator, IT manager, among other things.

                                        I think job titles are a good thing simply as a starting point descriptor of what a person's job role is. It shouldn't determine pay as much as all the line items that are listed in your actual job description.

                                        That said, I've landed on IT Administrator since it seems to encompass everything and sounds better than "IT Generalist".

                                        Are you actually a manager? as in you have direct reports that you manage?

                                        dave247D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • scottalanmillerS
                                          scottalanmiller @dave247
                                          last edited by

                                          @dave247 said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                                          That said, I've landed on IT Administrator since it seems to encompass everything and sounds better than "IT Generalist".

                                          That's pretty good. It's generic but gets the point across. Generalist is linguistically better because, for example, you likely do some engineering somewhere, not exclusively administration (engineers build, administrators operate.) But it's so general that people get it.

                                          dave247D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                          • dave247D
                                            dave247 @Dashrender
                                            last edited by

                                            @Dashrender said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                                            @dave247 said in Why Job Titles Matter, and Don't.:

                                            I'm actually dealing with this right now. I was asked by my boss to come up with a better job title for myself since I am basically a system administrator, network administrator, server administrator, IT manager, among other things.

                                            I think job titles are a good thing simply as a starting point descriptor of what a person's job role is. It shouldn't determine pay as much as all the line items that are listed in your actual job description.

                                            That said, I've landed on IT Administrator since it seems to encompass everything and sounds better than "IT Generalist".

                                            Are you actually a manager? as in you have direct reports that you manage?

                                            What kind of reports are you referring to? I manage various things in IT, like some reports, vendors, some credit card statements & things..

                                            scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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