Senior vs ego 1

[Unotec]

I am on the job hunt, as many of us are. Some of my acquaintances have pointed me toward "senior this or that" positions.

I have been trudging this field for over ten years but I do not consider myself a senior.

Is my youthful ego getting on the way and I should start considering myself as a senior engineer?!?!

Yeah, I know my bones are taking a little longer to heal every time I crash, but senior roles?

How is the "senior" designation come to be? When you look for a senior role in your company, what is that you are looking for?


<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying ” Damn that was fun!” - Unknown>>

 

[KENAT]

I wouldn't get hung up over 'senior', in some places this means maybe 5 years experience, in others it might mean you're the world expert in the subject and have been doing it for decades.

Worry about the job requirements not the title. If you think you could meet them, or at least close enough to warrant consideration, go for it.

I'm apparantly an Engineer IV, based on the definition etc. I'm nowhere near but they've been happy to pay me as one for several years now.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484

 

[bradpa77]

Yeah, I agree with KENAT. Don't get hung up on the title. I've been an engineer for 7 years and I just recently turned down 2 different job offers that were "Senior Engineer" positions. It's all relative to the company's definition of "senior". So, if you get a job offer as a "senior engineer", just take that to mean that you have the experience to be called a "senior engineer" in the eyes of the company you are interviewing with. That may be a completely different definition of the word from what you might have in your head or from what your current company has in it's company's culture. Just don't put too much weight on the title either way. It's all relative really.

 

[SomptingGuy]

Agree totally.

I was promoted to the heady position of "Senio(u)r Development Engineer" after about a year in my first job. Then "Senio(u)r" Project engineer after about five years. So I went from juniour to seniour to juniour to seniour in those few years.

The people who coin those titles are those who write (or modify) the job ads.




- Steve

 

[IRstuff]

The title, and even the required experience level, may simply be a crude filter to weed out all but the most junior people. I've seen postings requiring 20 yrs, but they'll take 5 yrs, if the applicant is extraordinary.

Likewise, we sometimes have openings for someone with 5 yrs experience, but someone with 20 yrs applies, because he's already done the route, and now just wants to do only engineering.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[casseopeia]

I'd only be concerned if your acquaintances are also forwarding ads for botox injections and age-defying night creams.

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

 

[Unotec]

Jeez Cass, I saw that one coming as soon as I hit the "submit post" button!!
Luckly I'm in better shape than most, but thanks for the 'lift up' comment

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying ” Damn that was fun!” - Unknown>>

 

[Latexman]

"Senior" is code at my company for at least 5 years experience and you can lead an average size/complexity project. It doesn't mean you use little blue pills.

Good luck,
Latexman

 

[jmw]

Senior is also often a "Title" enhancement handed out in lieu of a pay rise or to justify a very small increase in pay they didn't want to give in the first place and don't want to give others in similar positions.

But heck, I understand HR thinking about job titles about as well as I understand airline ticket pricing policies so don't think I have a handle on this.

You need a job?
Go for whatever is on offer that you can do and hopefully would like to do and never mind what they call it;
hell, they call a lot of guys "Manager" who couldn't get a laser to point in a straight line and they keep them employed and pay them well enough.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[tygerdawg]

This was discussed some time before. There is now excessive "Title Inflation" for almost all industries, and I think all of us in the Engineering profession suffer for it. I decided it was all fluff and silliness when I had to report to a brassy, PowerPoint-savvy but technically clueless, arrogant young person who had maybe 5 years of real work experience and had the title of "Vice President".

There was at one time a fairly rigorous progression of titles in the Engineering profession. The last formal description I saw was from a US Government website somewhere. It went something like this:

Jr. or Associate Engineer: 0-3 years
Engineer: 3-8 years
Sr. Engineer: 5-10 years

and then on from there into the ranks of Staff Engineer, Principal Engineer, Chief Engineer, or other titles indicative of years of experience and successful accomplishment.

Now titles mean very little with respect to one's experience level, competency, or knowledge.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[MechEng2005]

I agree with the previous posts. Titles, IMHO, are not very meaningful. Some companies tie your wage to a title, others don't.

In jobs where you work directly with the customer, I think title are more likely to be inflated. If you were buying a piece of custom equipment, would you rather have it been designed by:

a) Engineer
b) Senior Engineer (Ooohhh! I feel special, they put their best guy/gal on my project)
c) Junior Engineer (gasp!)


-- MechEng2005

 

[jmw]

d) pretend engineer (sales engineer)

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com