Best Job Titles

[enginerding]

What are some of the job titles you have seen for engineers?
I have seen "Senior Engineer" on a business card of someone less than 30 years old who was in the same refresher course as me for the Illinois SE exam. He worked for a big company too.

 

[TheTick]

It was an official title, but on my LinkedIn page, I have one position listed as "rented mule". Another is listed as "fellow traveller", since it was a family business that I had no specific role in, I just did whatever my dad needed.

 

[GregLocock]

I was a senior engineer at the grand old age of 25. I still am one 23 years later.

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIGlease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[corus]

When you discover that nostrils prove a handy storage place for a couple of pencils then you move up from senior to senile engineer.

corus

 

[kchan711]

I think the title "Engineer" alone does the job right. Not too flashy, and anyone can figure out exactly what you do within the first 30 seconds of conversation.

Kyle Chandler

http://www.chiefengineering.net

"To the Pessimist, the glass is half-empty. To the Optimist, the glass is half-full. To the Engineer, the glass is twice as large as it needs to be!"

 

[tygerdawg]

I myself have been labelled Senior, Advanced, Manager Of, and even Director. I came to the conclusion that we exist in a sad state of title-inflation.

I recently worked with a young lady who was, oh, all of about 31 years old. Maybe. She went by Senior Vice President.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[kelowna]

I agree with tygerdawg, but title inflation is not limited to engineers.
On my last project the secretay (who also happen to order the business cards) ended up being the "Project Administration Coordinator"

 

[zdas04]

I had a colleauge once that had a range of business cards printed. His cards went from "Engineer" to "Senior Engineer", "Senior Staff Engineer" etc. through "Vice President of Gas Marketing". I think he had 8 or 9 versions. Before every meeting he would look over his stock and pick the card that would blend in best with the bulk of the meeting participants. He didn't usually drop the VP card on a working group or the Engineer card on a management group, but sometimes he would just to get some leverage. He was pretty good at it.

Another guy in the group tried it and ended up at a meeting with a mixture of titles in his card case--that was not well received and our real VP put a stop to the practice when he got a call from an outraged peer at another company.

David

 

[DonPhillips]

My wife would probably encourage me to be Vice President of Natural Gas Production.

Don Phillips

http://worthingtonengineering.com

 

[bk19702]

I know certain states require that only certified "Petroleum Transfer Engineers" are allowed to place gasoline in your vehicle.

 

[guru64]

I find the concept of job titles quite different between India, where I come from and Germany, where I work.
In India, people get frustrated if they dont get a different and seemingly 'more significant' desgination, as their term in Company grows or when they switch jobs. Ofcourse the change in desgination should and will be accompanied by handsome pay hike.

But in Germany, I find people working with the same designation for even 20 years and with not so steep pay-hike.

Probably a difference between the developed and developing countries.

Guru

http://www.abaqusguru.blogspot.com

 

[BRGENG]

I think most people realize that titles don’t really mean anything and are often given away to make people happy without getting a raise. We have all seen the various titles given that mean different things at different companies and often mean nothing.

Even though I am the owner of the company I still prefer "Professional Engineer" or "Structural Engineer" in S.E. states. It is the only title that you truly earn and everyone knows what it means.