Remember when it was a big deal...?

[laurence]

Read this thread, then got an email from a coworker buddy of mine. He fixes the President's laptop and gets netmeeting running for conference calls, programs the blackberry that type of thing, BTW, this is the business unit president, not the company president - my work is really bad about titles. Saw his new signature at the bottom - "Sr. Management Systems Analyst"! Too funny!

[cute fuzzy bunny]

All y'all are going to laugh every time you see someone stick that "Sr." in there.

I smirked every time CNBC stuck another talking head on the tube. Every one of them was a "Senior" something.

Later when I watch the daily show and they have a piece on turkish prisons, I'll get to see "Sr. Turkish Prison Analyst"...and its going to be old and busted...

[chrisdut]

Justin:
A couple of our younger guys started using the suffix E.I.T. after their name. Clients would find out that it meant engineer-in-training and get pissed at me since we would invoice them "for some kid to learn on their job". I got sick and tired of explaining that our employee has a B.S. in Civil Engineering and passed an exam to earn this title. I finally told our guys to either stop using the title or I would forward the pissed off client to them to explain. So far they all have quit using the title. You would think our profession could come up with something less demeaning than "engineering intern" or "engineer-in-training".

[laurence]

Wow, the opposite problem from what most of us experience. That's like the misconception that an assistant professor at a university is some flunky.

[2B]

The whole engineering title game can get daunting. I work at a company with lots of engineers and no one has the word engineer in their title. If you are a PE you can list that "discretely" but you must also specify the state(s) you are licensed in.

Before this job, I was working for a government contractor and everyone was an engineer. This included a high school graduate, a biology major and several others I was sure never took a math class after 9th grade. I'm sure the "engineer" title was used to try to get a higher fee for our services.

One thing you can count on in Texas is that the use of "engineer" in your title or business name will get you scrutinized and hammered if you violate the Texas Engineering Practice Act.

[riskadverse]

Where I last worked, they liked to hand out Senior titles with small raises and then the "Seniors" were on a higher percentage increase schedule. *The departments were in such a disarray because of changes in ownership and managers, I figured I could get my own promotion. *I just had the girl who got business cards printed up to get me some new ones with "Senior System Programmer" as the title. *Of course it helped that I was the only System Programmer. *When I got my review later that year I whined about not being paid as much as the other "Senior types", so my new boss made a point of trying to adjust my wages inline with the others. * Looking back, it was pretty ballsy, but at the time I don't think I thought too much about doing it or getting caught. *

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by riskaverse ...Looking back, it was pretty ballsy, but at the time I don't think I thought too much about doing it or getting caught.

Maybe it's just me, but there seems to be some inconsistency in your username and your conduct in the workplace...

[riskadverse]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo! Maybe it's just me, but there seems to be some inconsistency in your username and your conduct in the workplace...

I've never been accused of being riskaverse outside of investment schemes and even there only in recent history.*

[justin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisdut ...So far they all have quit using the title. You would think our profession could come up with something less demeaning than "engineering intern" or "engineer-in-training".

I tell people that I'm an intern, just like medical doctors who are "interning"

Our firm is pretty strict with having non-engineers (EI or EIT holders) not calling themselves engineers. My pay grade at the company is "technician II" not engineer. Even the old guys that have practiced 20 years but don't have a PE can't call themselves engineers. "Assistant Project Manager" is what one of them is called (he does have a PhD though).

Some firms around here call their non-licensed engineers "Analysts" or "Associates". I'd take that over engineering intern.

[MasterBlaster]

I'm not sure what my actual title is.

If I were to create one for myself it would be something like...

Senior Project Viewgraphologist

or

Coffee Consumption Fellow II

or

(E.R.P.I.T) Early Retirement Website Poster in training

They discribe what I do better than any label they actually give me.

When people ask me at a cocktail party what I do I tell them... I drink coffee and I make viewgraphs.. and what do you do ?

[cj]

I guess I'm of a much lower class - many of my titles over the years contained the word "Assistant".

CJ

[Sheryl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by justin I tell people that I'm an intern, just like medical doctors who are "interning"* * Our firm is pretty strict with having non-engineers (EI or EIT holders) not calling themselves engineers.* My pay grade at the company is "technician II" not engineer.* Even the old guys that have practiced 20 years but don't have a PE can't call themselves engineers.* "Assistant Project Manager" is what one of them is called (he does have a PhD though).* Some firms around here call their non-licensed engineers "Analysts" or "Associates".* I'd take that over engineering intern.*

We have the same problem in architecture. Someone who gets out of school with a Master's Degree still has to "intern" for three years before taking the licensing exam. The state is very strict about people using the term "Architect" without a license.

I had a client give me a lot of grief recently for having an "intern" design his project when he thought I would be doing it personally, so now I call them Project Managers.

[BUM]

In my sales days I got the biggest kick out of pulling IBM business cards out of the restaurant fishbowl. The L O N G and vague titles. I cant forget this guy from IBM HQ:

John Smith

Corporate Information
Corporate Information


What the hell is that? Shoulda gave him a call. Told him he won a cheeseburger at the Holiday Inn

[yelnad]

I took a lateral move this year* and now I have the word "Coordinator" in my title. The folks I left behind are all sorts of pissy because of it even though we make the same money. Hehe.

*Best thing I could have done!

[2B]

When I was unemployed, I got a job with a guy who was trying to find work and; if I could help I'd get a cut. I was his "Vice President of Engineering." I made numerous sales calls and spent hours preparing proposals. I think I made about $6,000 over a 12 month period. Fortunately, I had some other sources of income.

Actually, it was fun doing all of that but the market stunk.