Burn Your Title | Hacker News Reader

Burn Your Title

notes.eatonphil.com

13 pointsjez10 comments

In the same way that it frustrates me when rich people say that money is not important, it similarly frustrates me when high-status people say that status is not important.

I don’t think title burners are paying attention to how organizations work.

I need to know your role or I can’t efficiently work with you. It’s arrogant and abusive to tell me “ya know I just do whatever seems to matter at the moment.” Because then I don’t know what to bring to you, nor what to keep away from you.

If you are a founder then people expect you to be a chaotic force who does what he pleases. Good for you. But otherwise, it doesn’t work to have people drift about. It creates anxiety for no good reason.

That’s not to say you can’t renegotiate your role. But having a clear role allows the people around you to decide for themselves when and how to come to you.

I'm not sure that's what he meant. My understanding from the post is: First, do your job (I'd add - do it well). That's table stakes, and, some people may be happy with that. But, if you want to get promoted, if you want to 'not feel trapped by your title', then, do more. Don't wait for others to tell you what you can or should do - take initiative. Then, people will notice and you'll either get more responsibility/get promoted, or at the very least, you'll gain more experience (with results to show for it), and in any case you're better off for your next position.

I don’t think he said that. I think he clearly said “burn” your title. BURN it.

Communication is tough. :)

My intent was definitely to focus on that you should not feel limited by your title while also being a good upstanding member of your org.

I hit the point recently where upon being promoted, I realized I had hit the point where my title didn't matter - people knew who I was and my reputation was out there.

Most liberating moment of my career so far.

It drills down to showing initiative. If you work in a proactive manner, people will notice, and you'll also feel better at your job.

I feel silly writing and saying that I'm the CEO of such a small startup like mine, but I haven't found something that will communicate what's behind that title as well.

I deleted "Senior ML/MLOps Engineer" from LinkedIn bio and wrote "Data Carpenter, Software Plumber, Container Architect, Model Trainer, Robot Guide" yesterday :))

Verbs are more important than nouns. Describe what you do, not what you are.

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