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we have the same conversation every ~6 months. i didn't want changing my title to make a difference: i'm doing the same job! BUT IT DID.
titles shouldn't matter, but they do (and anyone that tells you otherwise already has a good one, or isn't an URM) https://twitter.com/Lethain/status/1327766605351194624
titles shouldn't matter, but they do (and anyone that tells you otherwise already has a good one, or isn't an URM) https://twitter.com/Lethain/status/1327766605351194624
maybe instead of having this conversation again we should just sponsor underrepresented folks until they get the titles/level/comp they deserve?
if you don't want titles to matter, and you want to play the "everything should be a meritocracy card", you have to improve the industry. the field is not level. opportunities are not equal. you can't have what you want without fixing the underlying issues.
moving to a PE job title didn't change my job, but it did signal to people that otherwise wouldn't listen to me (or would assume i had less technical credibility) that i met a well-defined technical bar. i have to work less hard to convince those folks i should be in the room.
i'm not saying that this is ideal. it is, in fact, stupid. i do exactly the same job as i did before. it would be great if we didn't have to think about things like title or whether we've earned enough technical credibility to prove our worth. but we do.
being able to ignore titles, or what others think about you, or the ability to jump into a call or meeting or email thread and assume that folks respect you technically is a position of immense privilege. not being able to worry about whether you're paid fairly is privilege.
i have all these things! and a lot of the people i know do too. but for some of us, it took longer than others, and titles were an important step. we have to use our positions of privilege to improve things for the folks coming after us!
tl;dr; titles, recognition, pay, technical credibility all matter. if you think they don't: congratulations! you're very privileged.
systemic bias and discrimination and inequality all exist. gotta fix those before we can have the "not titles" argument.
systemic bias and discrimination and inequality all exist. gotta fix those before we can have the "not titles" argument.
