Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

When did Job titles become so unfathomable?

138 replies

erikbloodaxe · 17/05/2022 21:17

I'm old and remember when a job title informed anyone ( in that profession or not) of what they did. I've had to write DS's job title down and Google it (yes he explained but I was non the wiser Grin). So, in the interest of fun, will you say what your job title is and see if anyone can guess what you actually do (if you don't mind that is).

OP posts:
nearlyspringyay · 18/05/2022 08:06

Architect is used a lot in PM / tech worlds, it's a standard term that doesn't have anything to do with construction architecture.

barbrahunter · 18/05/2022 08:07

I used to work in a school and I remember when many of these meaningless title changes came in, so that one day we had senior management and next day they were senior leadership. Most of us laughed, it sounded so pompous and everything was the same old shit.

HadEnoughOfBears · 18/05/2022 08:09

IglesiasPiggl · 18/05/2022 07:23

I know someone who works for an achingly trendy media agency. His title is Director of Sunshine.....

This wins

dudsville · 18/05/2022 08:10

No one familiar with my actual job title. When I introduce myself I say the thing I know they'll understand.

Iamanunsafebuilding · 18/05/2022 08:14

My job title is Portfolio Manager but I don't work in a project environment or manage people!

I work for an arms length government body, so public sector, who provide grant funding to businesses and academic institutions for innovation research. My role is to create an effective and compliant funding mechanism to ensure the money goes to the best projects. It's an operational role working with the 'ideas' person and other Ops teams.

VenusClapTrap · 18/05/2022 08:14

I once worked in a government department in the opaquely titled Partnerships and Networks Development Unit, acronym PANDU. We did a lot of work with BME organisations. One of them quietly let us know that PANDU is a Hindu word for village idiot.

Frankly, we deserved that.

Lurleene · 18/05/2022 08:19

Not my job but in the IT world there are a lot of Scrum Masters. When someone first described themselves as one to me I thought they were making a joke but from what I can gather it is a project manager role.

Monkeybutt1 · 18/05/2022 08:26

Scrum Masters are used in IT departments who are Agile rather than Waterfall!
A scrum master is not a project manager they are the servant-leader for the scrum team who may work within a project. The Project manager manages the whole project on a day to day basis. Guess who works in IT LOL!
I am a Change and Problem manager, I don't manage anyone!

suckingonchillidogs · 18/05/2022 08:27

We have a Document Lifecycle Operator. He does the photocopying.

AWOL66 · 18/05/2022 08:27

barbrahunter · 18/05/2022 08:07

I used to work in a school and I remember when many of these meaningless title changes came in, so that one day we had senior management and next day they were senior leadership. Most of us laughed, it sounded so pompous and everything was the same old shit.

This happened in my work too. The email went out "please call us the Senior Leadership Team from now on". I still call them the SMT not the SLT but hey I'm a rebel! Haha Leading the organisation with meetings coming up with job titles rather than managing what really needs to be done! I agree with the post about pretentious job ads too. A page long and you'd have no idea what the basics of the job are without a corporate BS interpreter!

Monkeybutt1 · 18/05/2022 08:34

At my last company they changes everyones job titles so everyone was a leader or senior which got rid of nay hierarchy in the teams so there was no way to move up. So a team of 5 developers would have had a couple of senior developers and you would work your way up to that, but they removed them. So loads of people left as there was no career development.

Purplecatshopaholic · 18/05/2022 08:36

I used to manager Managers, now they are all Strategic Partners…

Veja · 18/05/2022 08:41

I’m not senior but my job still has so many different names/titles depending on company.

Onlyrainbows · 18/05/2022 08:41

A lot of this confusion comes from not working in software/IT. My actual job title is confusing because it means different things in different sectors.

In banking it's very common to have VPs at a lower level (at least in the US and it's used almost as a marketing ploy).

In my company we have C Suite, Sr VPs, Sr Directors, Directors, heads/managers, associates and individual titles (like solutions architects).

MintyMoocow · 18/05/2022 08:44

Our HR Dept is now “The People People” …
never, ever understood the issue with personnel.
Also we are dripping with VPs, Directors and Deputy Directors. Nobody is just a Manager anymore!

orangeisthenewpuce · 18/05/2022 08:45

This reminds me of the greatest job title ever which was the Head of Better for the BBC in the spoof tv series W1A. It's entirely plausible that someone somewhere actually has that job title.

Handsnotwands · 18/05/2022 08:46

Ifailed · 18/05/2022 07:43

I moved into project management (within an IT department), and discovered a whole layer of titles all begining with P: project manager, programme manger, portfolio manager. I was hoping there was a more senior role, probably something like panorama manager or even prophetic manager - some one who magically knew which projects were coming up?

That's your pipeline manager

BringBackCoffeeCreams · 18/05/2022 08:51

Luckydog7 · 18/05/2022 07:16

No takers i see.

My job title is 'operation support'

My actual job is drawing highly technical construction drawings in CAD. I wouldn't mind a more gradious title actually...

I thought you were going to say you were a housewife.

Original poster
erikbloodaxe · 18/05/2022 08:57

Waterfall and Agile? Completely flummoxed.

OP posts:
Surgarblossom · 18/05/2022 08:59

camelfinger · 18/05/2022 06:40

Yes - the titles have become more grandiose. When I started work, you basically had “manager” for people who managed others and “head of” for someone in charge of a large department. There was only a handful or directors. Now everything has been elevated, so manager is no big deal, if you’re “head of” then you’re essentially head of your own work, and directors/associate directors are ten a penny. The actual directors are now “Chief” something.

So true..

bananaskinny · 18/05/2022 08:59

VenusClapTrap · 18/05/2022 08:14

I once worked in a government department in the opaquely titled Partnerships and Networks Development Unit, acronym PANDU. We did a lot of work with BME organisations. One of them quietly let us know that PANDU is a Hindu word for village idiot.

Frankly, we deserved that.

😂😂

Horsemad · 18/05/2022 09:00

What is a Solutions Architect? 🤔

cornflakedreams · 18/05/2022 09:02

Monkeybutt1 · 18/05/2022 08:26

Scrum Masters are used in IT departments who are Agile rather than Waterfall!
A scrum master is not a project manager they are the servant-leader for the scrum team who may work within a project. The Project manager manages the whole project on a day to day basis. Guess who works in IT LOL!
I am a Change and Problem manager, I don't manage anyone!

Is there an English translation of this available?

Smartsub · 18/05/2022 09:02

At my last job the most junior posts in the organisation were called "manager". All the actual managers were called executive or director, despite in no way being what those words actually mean.

Lochnessgiraffe · 18/05/2022 09:05

I'm a Scrum Master/ project manager and dh is a Cloud Architect. We have lots of wierd and wonderful job titles at our companies

Swipe left for the next trending thread