A Special Story on Title Concession as Told by an Elite Engineering Executive Here in Austin
This post is about an incredible lesson that I learned from an elite technology executive that lives right here in Austin. He's been at the executive level for close to ten years now and as we know, even at the executive level there are different ranks of leadership and this is a story about simply some incredible observations on behalf of this engineering leader.? To get things started here, allow me to paint the picture of this executive and the environment he's functioned in for the past decade. In no particular order, he has worked in the following titles/roles,?
The past 7-8 years has seen this leader at the executive level for a couple of established Fintech firms. Think something like Stripe or Affirm. His last two employers have had large engineering organizations comprised of multiple levels of senior leadership. Upon joining his current employer, he actually accepted an offer from the firm at a level that was lower than his previous title. But within three years, he received a very nice promotion and now functions at the same level as his previous employer.?
So here are his words below. He was updating me on his promotion and I was just blown away and immediately processed this in a manner of how this approach can help the software engineers and other IT professionals on job searches right now. If you're currently on an active job search, perhaps this kind of approach can be of help?? Here are his words,?
When I joined *****, I debated whether to push for entry as a Senior Vice President or whether I should instead just focus on comp. I left my previous company as an SVP which was a pretty lofty title, but titles are ... just?titles.?
There's something strange I discovered in my later?years which is that most people are intimidated?by titles. If you hold a certain title, a whole set of people just won't talk to you freely. As my titles got more senior, my own experience with this dynamic proved to be true. Some great advice?I got made me decide that when?I joined ******, I would hold the line on comp and enter at a lower title. The whole mission behind this approach would be to spend some time getting?to know the company culture. I felt that entering as a VP would let me build a different kind of network (from the ground up) and learn the culture. Better than coming in as a lateral SVP would.
Well, it's been over three years?since I joined and the Board just put me up for promotion earlier this?year. That came through about a month ago so come January 1st, I will be a Senior Vice-President at ****. Wanted to share that with you. Only sharing with you Mark (and not for general consumption) given how close we've gotten over the years and certainly not from a place of wanting to toot my own horn!!
A couple of posts ago, I spoke about the value that can emerge when we make the proper concessions in our job search. Trust me when I say that this gentleman is an elite engineering leader and what is so impressive in this story is that he "chose" to make a concession. Talk about earning a luxury in one's career, right?? Truly incredible and it really speaks to the special kind of human being he is.?
So how do these words relate to you, a software engineer currently on an active job search? Right now, a lot of companies are being very sensitive to titles and the seniority of the candidates they are interviewing. If the company you're speaking with appears to be particular to your rank, whenever the moment presents itself, can you deliver these kind of words? It would stamp you as a rock solid culture match with the company. In terms of the audience, the proper "ear" for these words most likely will be the Lead Technical Recruiter or VP of Talent. Here you go,?
Well just like I mentioned in our introductory call, the #1 agenda on my end is to find a company where I find the work interesting and the engineers are people that I can learn from and genuinely partner with. And so far, that has certainly been the case with your company. While I think we both agree I am probably beyond the title of Associate Software Engineer but other than that, I'm actually wide open on title. It's never been too much a concern of mine because most importantly, I just want to blend in well with the engineering culture. And as we both know, the more modest the title, the better we blend.?
Adopting some of the words from the brilliant executive I reference in this post, this kind of delivery will immediately put a company at ease. And even though you are flexible on title, you can still hold on to a target salary range you might be seeking. Just to be safe, if you offer up a salary range, try to keep it no wider than 10k. It represents a concise figure that the company can associate with your candidacy.??
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In closing, this post speaks to how flexibility on title and rank can result in making a very comprehensive and positive impression on a company. When you are flexible and even humble on your title, you project yourself as a solid culture match and it confirms that you are excited to begin growing at the company from the ground up. Yet in an interesting way, this kind of concession could always help you when it comes to holding the line on your annual compensation. That is what this brilliant executive was able to do and in the end, it paid off so very nicely for him. So as you speak with companies, as always, do your best to crush the technical assessment and when they begin to assess you on culture match, please consider coming in modest on title and let them know that blending in with the engineering organization is the #1 objective for your next employer. I can 100% assure you that your words will be very well received.?
Thanks,
Mark Cunningham
Technical Recruiter
512-699-5719
Chief Architect & Proven Technology Leader AI / ML Consulting Architect
1 年Love the quick article ... I kind of relate to the experience within the company and the ability to develop the "right level of networking"; which in my opinion, independent of the title, is really ground up. I am often in roles where I need to get something more out of someone who is potentially already overloaded and a great approach where I have found success is to figure out what I can take off their plate in order to achieve my goal. By being willing to help them, I am able to more quickly achieve my objective and it establishes a better connection within the engineering team. Often this is not writing the code from them, but diving in an helping them access the problem and work with them on optimal solutions for the best outcome. This is the same with kids .... you can't teach them about something by talking about it, but the path that is often more successful is showing them.
Data Dude
1 年The other thing is, be wary of companies that give you "titles increases" in lieu of significant compensation increases.
Software Engineer at Nvidia; I ??Rust
1 年My kind of advice right here. “I don’t care what you call me as long as your check clears.” :)
Product & Technology Leader, CPO / CTO, Growth Catalyst, Transformation Expert, Board Advisor
1 年Thanks for sharing this, Mark. Over different companies and titles/roles in my career, I've found that what is most important are the culture/people you work with and the nature of the work itself.