What's in a Job Title?

The companies I’ve worked for so far have always had some kind of hierarchical organisation. For instance, you start off as a Software Developer, then you are promoted to Senior Software Developer, and so on. However, I’m aware that there are other companies which prefer to have a flat hierarchy, and keep job titles to a minimum.

Well, what’s in a job title, anyway? Does it really matter what your job title is?

Motivation

There’s this scene from the film “Kingdom of Heaven“, where the main character (Balian) selects a peasant and knights him on the spot. The bishop is horrified.

Bishop: “Who do you think you are? Will you alter the world? Does making a man a knight make him a better fighter?

Balian: “Yes.”

You see, making a man a knight doesn’t give him any special power. But he knows that he is now a knight. This means that he is responsible to uphold his duties as such.

On the job, it’s pretty much the same. Becoming a Senior Software Developer does not make you any more able in your work than turning 18 years old makes you suitable to drive. But it does put you into a bag of a handful of accomplished and trusted developers, and as such you will work a lot harder to show that you deserve that title. It also means that you will most likely take more initiative in your work, and go outside the scope of your individual duties by guiding others in performing theirs.

A little recognition goes a long way in motivating individuals.

Categorisation

Some companies offer the excuse that their employees have the same job titles or salaries in the interest of fairness, so that they are all treated equally.

Such companies should wake up and realise that people aren’t all equal. Some work harder than others. Those people do not deserve to be lumped in the same boat as those who do a miserable job.

The CV Factor

When an employee applies for a job, having “Senior Software Developer” looks a lot better than “Software Developer”.

It is true that job titles mean different things from one company to another. In some companies, a Software Developer is merely responsible for coding; while in others, he might actually be managing a whole project. Hiring companies should ideally look beyond the job title and ask about the roles that the candidate played in his employment.

However it is also true that companies and recruitment agencies receiving a lot of job applications often resort to simple filtering at face value in order to reduce the number of applications.

Consider this: individual A has been a loyal and hard-working Software Developer for 20 years, and his company never gave him a promotion. His friend, individual B, has been promoted to Senior Software Developer and then Lead Developer, even though his skills and responsibilities are less than those of individual A. When recruiters look at their CVs at face value, who will they prefer? What will they think about individual A when they see that he’s had the same role for 20 years?