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Comment by JohnFen | Hacker News Reader

> Prestige is a powerful motivator.

I know this to be true because I've seen so many people given BS titles instead of raises and be happy about it as if they got something of real value.

But I don't understand it at all. Apparently, I lack the "prestige" gene.

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It's not really prestige, so much as it is the perception of security. Many people are driven by fear and thus motivated by security. You can uncover this exceptionally well with enneagram personality tests. A nice new title would give a person that values it the belief that they are less expendable.

that and stack ranking. "dominant male" is hardwired.

My favorite title bump is “Head of X”.

Because rarely the person is ever the actual head.

It also is not a formal executive title like manager, director, officer, VP etc.

In finance, VP is not a “formal” executive title, it is just what they give to 24 to 26 year olds.

In retail/hospitality/many other customer facing positions, manager is also just someone who gets paid a salary in exchange for being on call and working 60+ hour weeks while shortstaffed.

Declaring someone "head of X" is hedging your bet. If X goes well, then you had the foresight and leadership to expand X. If X fails, then you have a scapegoat picked out.

I see this sort of prestige marker as useful for future job searches.

Absolutely. It's part of credentials, like a diploma. Not that it's truly needed but it expands options and can help get much better pay. Even if it does not guarantee that and some people can achieve even better financial success without it, still.

It's important though if you don't want to stay at the current company forever. With the right title it's much easier to get a well paying job. Otherwise you'll have to convince future employers why you didn't have that title despite your qualifications and work.

I call this "resume engineering". Some years ago, I decided to pass on a very impressive position at one of the then-hottest tech unicorns. I kinda liked the people, thought the tech was cool, but didn't see any way for the company to succeed.

As I thought, that company died, firing 100s of folks before the end.

It's been a few years, but a former colleague who took that job, managed to land an impressive title at my previous employer, above my level at the time... I have since left that company (unrelated), moved to a startup, and couldn't be happier.

My opinion is that titles don't matter. At all.

Compensation does matter, but you have to also value your happiness and factor that as well.

titles certainly matter and some fields have very specific definitions as to roles and levels of responsibility. medical workers come to mind.

I have never once had a potential employer express any sort of interest in job titles. They want to know what you did in your job, how much responsibility you had, that sort of thing, and they know that job titles don't tell you that.

Well, you can ask yourself what is "real value". In fact, more likely than not, it's just some imaginary stuff you ascribe value to, just like "prestige".

Real value is something that can pay your bills :)

Sometimes prestige does it, too, e.g. when you're hired to a better position on a next job, due to your prestigious title, a part in a famous project, etc.

Some people have enough money to meet their needs, and value prestige higher.

Others may overvalue prestige.

Or maybe there are hidden benefits to it that are hard to buy (social status).

I refer to it as being "immune to prestige"

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