use your title

Titles are meant to correlate with responsibilities, status and authority, but that doesn’t really seem to be the case at times, not just with how we view ourselves but also with how others view us. For example, most of the time when someone comes to me for assistance with any laptop issue they’re having, it doesn’t really matter that I’m not a full-time employee, all that matters is that I’m an IT guy and I’ll try to help with whatever issue you’re having.

This ties into this apprenticeship pattern. The responsibility you hold is solely up to what you actually do, not what your title says most of the time. Sure, if you don’t do the minimum, you’ll probably get fired for it, but ultimately it’s really up to you as an individual whether or not you fulfill those responsibility, have that status, and act as some sort of authority to those around you. The title doesn’t really actually mean anything, it’s pretty much just an additional statistic to distinguish your salary from other peoples’ salary at your company, or to show that this was a job you had before so you can maybe get a better job at another place.

It’s also interesting how the authors bring up informal titles, as I have experience with this as well. Other part-timers often ask me questions about what to do based on my seniority, solely because I’ve had more experience in the position than them. This conveys a sense of authority, that my words are taken more seriously than someone who has the same position as me, but has been here for a shorter amount of time. These titles are the ones that actually matter in practice, as this is what determines how you get treated, and is also directly determined by what you do. Your actions actually do affect how people will ‘title’ you informally, as a slacker or as a hard-worker, or anything in between.

The point is, the formal title is just another corporate thing that divides people in a non-specific way, but really only reflects a certain spectrum of experience and responsibilities, without being exact.