But titles (should) define the work.

Titles are often project-specific. The CEO of a design agency can be a Lead Designer, a Project Manager, or an Art Director, depending on the project (or just sit back and be a CEO, of course). Designers are occasionally Account Executives too.

Perhaps we should just change titles every time we face a new project.

Another great example is “Director of Business Development” .. that basically tells me your a sales guy with a ‘D’ level salary/compensation package – because that’s the only title salespeople held.

>>Why should anyone outside of your industry care what your company’s titles mean? There is no standardization from one vendor to another and there surely is no governing body that precludes every company from inflating their employees titles in lieu of pay.

What else is in a title? Well, think of the words junior, intermediate, and senior. As you probably know, these words help describe the level of skill one has. How about the words assistant, coordinator, manager, director and executive? These words describe the amount of responsibility and power one has. Does your company or project require a senior developer? Or maybe just a junior developer? Should you expect a junior developer to know how to build an e-commerce site? How about a Facebook application? What does an account manager do that an account coordinator doesn’t? The differences are worth knowing because titles like these, or rather, what these titles represent, help determine expectations for the employer, employee and client – expectations like the timeline, scope, strategy, salaries (more on that later) and cost.

>>Most of us don’t really care to learn the difference between your “Junior Art Manager” and your “Senior Art Producer” other than I can be damned sure I’m going to get charged a higher rate for the guy with the “Senior” in his name. This is because your industry works off of very dated practices of charging for time instead of results. Go figure that most firms in your industry provide you with a large menu of prices to decipher how much each person charges per hour.

Job titles are important no matter how specific they are. In some cases it may be a good idea to define yourself or a job post as concisely as possible because you, the employer or a client may be looking for a very specific type of work (you wouldn’t want a .NET developer if all of your websites are written using PHP). In other cases, it may be a better idea to have a more ambiguous title because it can suggest a range of skills. Maybe you’re looking for someone to do both front and back-end development. Maybe you sometimes write copy and design a user interface for the web at the same time. How would you describe yourself so that people understand what it is you do? Be careful though, because defining yourself (or the job description) too narrowly could limit your prospects. On the other hand, no one wants a “jack of all trades, master of none,” so it’s a delicate balance.

>>And in that paragraph you just drowned your first two arguments: your simple two to three word title cannot possibly convey enough information to be useful. Combine that with your junior/intermediate/senior prefix and you’re left with a title that says I’m shitty/not bad/overpaid in just one specific area and I do nothing else at the company.

Job titles can sometimes get a little ridiculous, though if you think about them, even they can often mean something very specific. Think of the title “CSS Ninja.” What’s up with that? People who write CSS are not ninjas at all, though they do slice up photoshop files. Notice I used the word “slice,” because I think it’s safe to say that’s the analogy being made. How about the title “Guru.” Why would our industry use the word guru (if you don’t believe me that we do, go to http://guru.com)? By definition, the word means “master” or “teacher” in Sanskrit, though it is often used loosely to define anyone who is “wise” and/or “logical.” What does a back-end developer do? They write logic (i.e. if the user clicks on the submit button, store the data of a form in a database; if user does X, initiate Y). Again, there is an analogy being made. You could also interpret “Guru” as senior level – someone who could take the role of a teacher, meaning they’d be responsible for instructing and overseeing junior staff. But is the analogy necessary? You can be the judge of that.

>>You make a somewhat interesting point, but then again why not have a “CSS Ninja” or a “Director of Fashionable Technology”. That conveys far more information than “Art Director” and can be a talking point about how titles are overrated and seldom useful.

You might be thinking: Why do job titles matter if they are accompanied by a job description? The answer to this goes back to expectations. It’s not uncommon to see the word junior in a title that requires 5 years of experience. Does that make sense? Not really. But the word junior can mean a lower salary and that’s why you’ll see that (shame!). Should a senior C++ developer know advanced jQuery? Not necessarily, and yet there are job descriptions listing both, which is fine if the employer is prepared to compensate that person for having such a diverse and useful skill set.

>>You make a great point here. And what’s scary is that there are actually job listings where they want both a Sr. C++ Dev with jQuery skills. Can’t imagine a worthwhlie project that would use both of these technologies let alone require a seasoned vet in C++.

Some of my friends have held “account coordinator” positions in which they claim to have done the same amount of work, if not more than their direct superiors holding an “account manager” position, and are paid less than them (and this is after being at that agency for about two years). The reason? “Because that’s how we do things.” If you ask me, that’s not a very good answer. And of course, that’s what my friends thought, so what did they do about it? They left that agency and went to work for a new one as an “account manager” where they did the same amount of work and got paid more for it. How does that make any sense? No wonder younger generations change jobs so often!

>>Well you’re getting there, but this isn’t exactly true. You’re assuming that “account manager” is always paid a higher wage than an “account coordinator” for all firms. You’re also assuming they have the same role and responsibilities because of a generic title. That’s hardly ever the case.

Job titles shouldn’t dictate your salary or exploit your skill set. The quality of work you do and the hours you put in are what matters. Here at Teehan+Lax we use titles quite loosely because we believe in just that. Titles don’t define you; your work does. Of course, there are practical applications of having titles, which I hope to have explained above, and so we maintain a certain level of description that we use to understand the work we do as a team. Again, I emphasize that titles should be balanced – not too limiting and not too vague.

>>So we can expect that Teehan+Lax has also designed their compensation to reflect not the title, but the work done by the individual and the value of their contribution regardless of their title? And of course, you’re also going to bill your clients for the value that you contribute to their business and not on an hourly rate specified by the [junior/intermediate/senior] + [role] pricing schedule?

Clarity on titles can be imperative because when these kinds of terms aren’t understood, problems arise, and this goes for any industry. Knowing what someone is capable of doing and how to describe the kind of work you’re looking for (whether you’re hiring or applying) is absolutely critical to doing good work and delivering it on time as expected. Clients, freelancers, employers and potential employees all need to be on the same page. Most importantly though, don’t let a title get in the way of making epic shit.

>>Any emphasis on titles cause the problems to arise. Internal bickering, missed client expectations, pathetic billing practices and so on. Knowing what someone is capable of has nothing to do with their title. The most famous recent maker of “Epic Shit”, was arguably Steve Jobs, and he held the same title as every wannabe one-man operation that gets his first set of business cards printed: CEO. Hardly the same.

Mike
Superstar

it’s like every decade or so, the industry shifts all the titles down a rung and adds a new modifier at the top of the list. like “executive” “managing” “vp” and so on…

When I was negotiating my first possible job right out of university my employer offered me a ‘Graphic Designer’ role. My job would actually consist of some print design, web design, web development and client relations – a sort of jack-of-all-trades job. I suggested that he offer me a ‘Web Developer’ role and his response was, “You can be called what ever you want.” His apparent view was that the job title does not matter at all, while I linked it mainly with salary.

While industry standard titles could go a long way in easing the uncertainty of salary and responsibility, I think each job is too unique to abide by them. Thanks for the read.

It can sometimes be very tempting to adopt job titles a notch or two about the work people are actually doing. As you mentioned, labels such as ‘coordinator’, ‘manager’, and ‘director’ imply certain things about the person’s previous roles.

As best I can work it out, a ‘coordinator’ is typically someone who took the lead on a particular activity or area of responsibility, probably without direct reports; ‘manager’ perhaps suggests a person who has run a team of people in a particular set of functions; while ‘directors’ typically have executive responsibility for a significant department or branch of an organisation, likely on the order of 20-100 people.

If your role doesn’t match up to these types of expectations, the title can actually be a hindrance to you rather than a help. On paper you may appear overqualified for a parallel job move or even gradual step up the ladder (‘you were a manager, you won’t be happy as a mere team lead’) and if you do get past the resumé screening despite the inflation, are likely to be set up for an awkward interview question or two (‘I managed… me!’).

Deciding on titles & job descriptions… it’s definitely an art.