Hacker News Reader

Comment by Jemaclus | Hacker News Reader

Assuming no pay increase, titles are free. If you're already managing the tech teams, then you should be able to get the VP Eng title with little problem. It's a win-win situation for them, too: you're happier with the nicer title, it costs them nothing, and it looks better on your resume when you choose to leave.

If you want VP of Engineering and a pay raise, that's another story altogether... Sounds like you fought the pay battle already. I'd push for a better title.

The few comments posted before this one are valid and good advice. Stick it out, and keep pushing for the things you want. Good luck!

View on HN

From my understanding, titles are not free at all: they present an opportunity cost, especially when the company is on the right trajectory. Promoting someone to VP means that there will not be room to bring a VP from the outside with a track record of successes, one that most of the times the investors themselves are pushing to bring into the company.

They can always bring in a Senior VP above you if they feel you're not being effective. I've seen it happen at a startup that regretted its decision to give an early employee a VP title, even though there were no other SVPs.

Not true. Titles and roles change all the time. You can absolutely be the VP of Engineering and if and when they need/want a "real" VP of Engineering you can become for example, the VP of Infrastructure Engineering reporting to the VP of Engineering. I doubt that they have any formal structured options framework so don't let them use that trick, if they do mention it, have them show it to you right at that moment, because if they can't it means they don't have it yet.

Anything worth having is worth fighting to have. To quote Bill Gates in the Simpson's episode, "I didn't get rich by writing a lot of checks." That's how the founders think. Getting what you want will be like taking a gazelle away from a hungry crocodile.

Or they could pull the good ol' "SVP of Engineering hired to be the actual VP". If they do that you're in trouble since you're directly in the new guy's way because you're between him and the people he wants to directly manage/reorganize. But at that point you may as well take the hint and leave.

As lostdog mentioned, if you can't get "VP of Engineering", go for "Director of Engineering", which is basically the same title, but leaves room for them to hire a "real VP" later down the road. As I said, titles are free. You can get one better than your current title with little hassle, most likely. Although you sound like you expect a lot of hassle about this, which for me is not a good sign. I'd probably walk if they weren't willing to compromise on something like this.

If you can't get VP Eng, go for Director of Engineering

Reply on news.ycombinator.com