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A few weeks ago, I went to a new job site out-of-state to take over a bridge project. It had just started a couple months when they lost the bridge engineer. With some incentives, they were able to convince me to go there to take over until they find someone else to take over it permanently. I have to live in a hotel room for the next 4-5 months or so.
Anyway, when I first went out there to look at my new project, one of the foremen came over. I introduced myself and told him I'm the new bridge engineer. He introduced himself and then told me he needed me to do some testing over there. Puzzled, I said again I'm the new bridge engineer. Puzzled, he said back yes and he needed me to go over there and take some soil density tests. I said again, no you don't understand I'm the new bridge engineer, meaning I'm your boss. Don't you guys have technicians to do these tests for you?
After the misunderstanding was cleared, it turned out down there in that state they call all the testers "engineers". I'm used to calling them test technicians.
Think about it for a moment. Garbage collectors are now sanitation engineers. Secretaries are administrative assistants or office managers. Door to door salesmen are account managers. Store clerks are product specialists. Cashiers are hospitality specialists. Toll booth collectors are now coin facilitation engineers. Try to guess what a petroleum distribution engineer does.
Heck, even customers are now called "guests".
With all the fancy titles flying around, are we creating a new generation of adult version of kids who got participation trophies?
My favorite was calling a tech support hotline and being greeted by an "executive". Or maybe Subway's "sandwich artists". There are a few gems out there.
What bothers me as well is when companies use a title to make someone feel important in a traditional sense, but they have no duties associated with that title. I had a coworker who was assigned to be a safety officer but all the safety officer duties went to someone else, and they were outright pandering to him to make him feel like he was showing initiative even though he was not capable of the job.
I recently found this happened to me when I requested a supervisor position with very specific duties. I carried them out for a year and then found out later that someone else apparently didn't respect that and was assuming responsibility to upper management in secret. What is infuriating about that is that I was still the fall person if anything went wrong. If I am not responsible, tell me. I cannot see how everyone doesn't immediately lose respect for an organization that engages in these sorts of deceptions.
Think about it for a moment. Garbage collectors are now sanitation engineers.
I have never seen this in reality, only in jest.
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Secretaries are administrative assistants or office managers.
The old school secretarial jobs mostly don't exist anymore. People type their own email messages, outlook calendars are collaborative, and phone systems are different. My admin assistant does special projects, not clerical duties. This title change makes sense to me.
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Door to door salesmen are account managers.
Door to door doesn't happen anymore. B2B is largely based on accounts, so this is just an industry term. I am ok with it and I don't think it is confusing.
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Store clerks are product specialists.
Or associates. Not a big fan of this one.
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Cashiers are hospitality specialists.
I think this is like sanitation engineer, more a term of jest than reality. I hope. It is a stupid title.
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Toll booth collectors are now coin facilitation engineers.
Definitely a joke
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Heck, even customers are now called "guests".
Ok, I am in complete agreement here. This one annoys me to no end. If I pay, I am a customer. If you extend your hospitality and everything is free, I am your guest. Don't patronize me and thank me for being your guest when I hand over my credit card to pay for anything.
Actually, it is. My original point is being an engineer used to actually mean something. Nowadays, most people don't even think much of an engineer anymore because everyone is an engineer nowadays.
Going around with a density test gauge and writing down numbers is not an engineering work. Making actual design decisions in a hundred million dollar project is.
A few months ago, I was at my dentist office getting my teeth examined and cleaned. The dental hygienist while setting up was talking to me. She asked me what I did. I said I was a bridge engineer. She asked me if there's a lot of women in my industry. I said no. Then I told her we just got a couple girls in the office and we treat them like gold because there just aren't that many women engineers around. I don't care how politically incorrect this sounds, but the reality is in engineering the male to female ratio is horrendously lopsided. She then made a comment that left me bewildered. She said wow these new girls in my office must be really smart. Everything she drives by a construction site and sees a flagger, she thinks to herself wow she is really smart. I thought to myself did she just say being an engineer is the same thing as a construction worker?
I'm guessing what comes next will be nurses and nurse's assistants will be called a variation of doctor.
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I have never seen this in reality, only in jest.
There's been several members here from time to time have admitted that they worked as a sanitation engineer, aka garbage collector. This title is rampant especially in California.
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The old school secretarial jobs mostly don't exist anymore. People type their own email messages, outlook calendars are collaborative, and phone systems are different. My admin assistant does special projects, not clerical duties. This title change makes sense to me.
Every job evolves over time based on technological advances and other factors. But the general job responsibilities remain the same. Sure, my secretary doesn't type my emails for me, but she's still my secretary.
The president, for example, used to not have nuclear codes to worry about. Ever since we started having nukes, did we change his title to president-with-nuclear-codes?
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Door to door doesn't happen anymore. B2B is largely based on accounts, so this is just an industry term. I am ok with it and I don't think it is confusing.
Yes, it does. Vector is still in business.
My partner just applied to internships for next summer. He came across some "account managers" positions. He called them and asked them what the internship was for. It turned out it was for door to door knives sales.
A few weeks ago, I went to a new job site out-of-state to take over a bridge project. It had just started a couple months when they lost the bridge engineer. With some incentives, they were able to convince me to go there to take over until they find someone else to take over it permanently. I have to live in a hotel room for the next 4-5 months or so.
Anyway, when I first went out there to look at my new project, one of the foremen came over. I introduced myself and told him I'm the new bridge engineer. He introduced himself and then told me he needed me to do some testing over there. Puzzled, I said again I'm the new bridge engineer. Puzzled, he said back yes and he needed me to go over there and take some soil density tests. I said again, no you don't understand I'm the new bridge engineer, meaning I'm your boss. Don't you guys have technicians to do these tests for you?
After the misunderstanding was cleared, it turned out down there in that state they call all the testers "engineers". I'm used to calling them test technicians.
Think about it for a moment. Garbage collectors are now sanitation engineers. Secretaries are administrative assistants or office managers. Door to door salesmen are account managers. Store clerks are product specialists. Cashiers are hospitality specialists. Toll booth collectors are now coin facilitation engineers. Try to guess what a petroleum distribution engineer does.
Heck, even customers are now called "guests".
With all the fancy titles flying around, are we creating a new generation of adult version of kids who got participation trophies?
The real question is, why does what we call someone else diminish the importance of what you do? If I give someone a more descriptive job title, and it makes them feel (and perform) better about the important work that they do - and yes there are MANY important nonprofessional jobs out there, what is it to you? After all, titles seem to be important to you.
The real question is, why does what we call someone else diminish the importance of what you do? If I give someone a more descriptive job title, and it makes them feel (and perform) better about the important work that they do - and yes there are MANY important nonprofessional jobs out there, what is it to you? After all, titles seem to be important to you.
Do we agree that participation trophies are not productive in the long run?
Do we agree that participation trophies are not productive in the long run?
We would agree on that, but how is a title a "participation trophy?" Are you suggesting the "administrative assistant" isn't producing because she didn't go to school for five years? If we took the name "engineer" out of your title, would you accomplish less? I think it is an apples to legs especially analogy.
The real question is, why does what we call someone else diminish the importance of what you do? If I give someone a more descriptive job title, and it makes them feel (and perform) better about the important work that they do - and yes there are MANY important nonprofessional jobs out there, what is it to you? After all, titles seem to be important to you.
Because you are calling them something they haven't earned. We dilute the value and meaning of earning things when we give them away. May seem like a small thing, but it's a major problem in education now where students graduate with a high school diploma and can't do high school level work. But they feel good about themselves.
She then made a comment that left me bewildered. She said wow these new girls in my office must be really smart. Everything she drives by a construction site and sees a flagger, she thinks to herself wow she is really smart. I thought to myself did she just say being an engineer is the same thing as a construction worker?
Easy to lose hope with that one. Technically, the dental hygienist is a STEM worker, too. My instinct is that the hygienist is not comparing an engineer to a construction worker in any sense other than the lack of women, even if she was poor to articulate it. "Smart" sounds like a catch all for "ability to get into a field dominated by men".
A friend of mine worked on a crew for a summer job and did mostly flagging because she was not allowed to perform any tasks that were deemed too rugged for her sex. And this girl is not small; she is very athletic and definitely capable.
It is too bad the hygienist could not pinpoint the actual problem that she was sensing when she asked you about women in engineering.
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My instinct is that the hygienist is not comparing an engineer to a construction worker in any sense other than the lack of women, even if she was poor to articulate it. "Smart" sounds like a catch all for "ability to get into a field dominated by men".
