All employers expect you to give your 100% at work: doing the best that you can with the expertise, and experience you have. After all, you are being paid to do the work. Having a different title won’t make you do a better job. Being a senior title-wise won’t make you more efficient, but let’s be honest, people judge a book by its cover. As much as I personally don’t care about titles, if you want to grow in your career, reach new goals, and strengthen your personal brand, the title you have is important.
It makes me cringe when people told me they don’t really have a title structure in their company. It worried me when there is no career path for an employee. Some people are comfortable in what they do, but some other need to know “what’s next” to challenge themselves, and thrive to reach the next level. I can care less about my title on an efficiency level! I always give my best, and try to make an art of what I’m doing, but at the same time, it’s how people perceived you. As an example, being recognized as a Senior Technical Evangelist by Mozilla open the door to something like a principal role. If I were still called a (junior) Technical Evangelist, even if I had the experience of a senior one, it could be a lot harder to land a principal role. In the end, you don’t give a senior role to someone without the appropriate experience. As I wrote, I do not care about your title (or mine) as I care a lot more about what you can achieve, but it’s not like this for everyone…
In the end, too often, it’s about how people see you, so it’s why I consider the titles I had, and will have an important part of my professional side!
