Ask HN: Does anyone unironically refer to themselves as rockstars/ninjas?

3 pointsprojectramo1 comment

Does anyone unironically refer to themselves as rockstars/ninjas?

This question applies to programmers, designers, lawyers etc. I am not asking if popular musicians call themselves rock stars, or if assassins who wear black call themselves ninjas.

I am asking because I wonder if everyone feels embarrassed by these terms, why do people use them? Surely, it must work on some people.

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so, i started at a new company last year, and a second person in the same role (customer success) started the same day. when we were doing icebreakers (we were 2 out of a big group starting that day) my team counterpart explained that leading up to current company he's been a 'startup ninja,' building teams and establishing processes. I thought to myself: "that's strikes 1 and 2 right there"

I could be wrong (or just self-centered) but I feel like the 'ninja' self-designation is more common in sales and marketing roles because we're all making stuff up as we go anyway; I feel like you'd have to be an exceptionally formidable technologist to use the ninja moniker without quockly having to shows examples of work that prove it.

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