I came across a company, not planning to give out its name. These are from a oil and gas company. The designations of the HR person was "Senior Human Resources Lead" It is senior and it has lead. I am sure it is not the Lead metal. There are some more designations of people from the same company that looked kinda wearied to me. "Deputy Project Manager". besides these, I found that 80% of the staff was having Lead and Senior designation. There were no persons working under them to lead thought cause the number of employees were only around 200. I don't understand designations. They are so confusing,in general programmer-developer-engineer they all are similar. Basically if there is a lead something then there gotta be some people being managed. Another company, they had a very parallel structure. Very well organized company it seems. there were just managers and engineers, no senior or lead. No power struggle it seems. Is there any real world consensus, there needs to be a regulatory body to manage such a mixup of designations. Senior HR Lead == WTF! and either Senior or Lead == ok

This isn't really a "coding horrors" post. It is more of a jobs question, trying to understand how job titles work.

Different companies do things different ways. There is no single unified structure of job titles.

Senior HR Lead == WTF! and either Senior or Lead == ok

The terms "Senior" and "Lead" are generally different. Senior Lead is a valid title, different from Senior and Lead.

Usually "Senior" refers to someone who is more experienced that the field (which typically means older), someone who works more in the broad spectrum rather than the generic role.

Usually "Lead" means they are managing or supervising or directing others.

Job title "Human Resources" probably means they help screen applicants and schedule times for interviews.

Job title "Senior Human Resources" probably means they help make bigger planning decisions and actually screen people rather than blindly schedule them.

Job title "Senior Human Resources Lead" probably means they do what Senior Human Resources workers do, and also have some Human Resource workers they give their work to.

They are so confusing,in general programmer-developer-engineer they all are similar.

Again it depends on the company.

Sometimes they are the same job, but other times they are distinctly different.

In some jobs where they are different a programmer or coder is someone who takes pre-designed algorithms and designs and encodes them into computer form. It is not a creative job. Contrast with a software engineer who starts with general problem statements and crafts the solutions, chooses algorithms, and implements everything based on their own decisions.

I found that 80% of the staff was having Lead and Senior designation.

Again, it depends on the company. Most companies reserve Senior and Lead for the meanings above, but not all do.

In the FBI, all investigators have the title "Special Agent". Nothing "special" about the specific role, that's just the job title given to all the workers.

It could also be a matter of where you are looking for your people. Often the public facing part of a company are the more senior people. The ones listed on web sites and printed matter are usually people who have been around for a long time or are established in the company. The rank-and-file workers may be who you get when you call in, or who you get when they are actually doing the work, but it is the management team you see on the web site.

Another company ... very well organized company it seems. there were just managers and engineers, no senior or lead. No power struggle it seems.

Job titles are whatever management assigns.

There are several indicators of "power" in an organization. Hierarchical power is sometimes present in job titles, but it doesn't have to be. Senior and Lead are markers of the hierarchical power. There can also be visible or hidden numbers (1, 2, III, IV, V, 6, whatever) that are not presented to you. Some companies still have the hierarchical power but ignore the job title; the titles may remain "engineer" even when they are moved up the hierarchy.

Different companies do things in different ways.

And of course, don't forget that job titles are also historically a great way of fobbing off employees when you don't have enough money / feel they are deserving of a raise, but want to keep their egos satisfied and keep them from jumping ship. It is after all, free for a company to inflate an employees job title. :cool:

Of course, there are only so many times you can do this, before someone becomes 'senior lead vice president chairman of assisting' or some such. But by this time they've normally caught on to the trick and have long since gone on to greener pastures. :lol:

And of course, don't forget that job titles are also historically a great way of fobbing off employees when you don't have enough money / feel they are deserving of a raise, but want to keep their egos satisfied and keep them from jumping ship. It is after all, free for a company to inflate an employees job title.

That last point is the most relevant. Sometimes employees will prefer to tack an extra word on their job title instead of take more money; for some people it's just worth that much to them. It isn't always about needing to distract them.

(I think this is crazy, but whatever makes you happy I guess.)

(I think this is crazy, but whatever makes you happy I guess.)

If you're looking for work elsewhere, if you can list your last job title as "lead" or "senior" or whatever it may help you in your job search.

If someone was offered more money and said "No, I'd rather have my job title changed" I would interpret that they're going to flee.

(I think this is crazy, but whatever makes you happy I guess.)

I used to have a flatmate who came home from work ecstatic one day because he'd asked for a raise, but instead had been promoted to head of his department. I asked him if that meant he was getting extra help, as he worked alone. Nope, still working on his own, but now at least he was in charge of himself. He was working with solvents 8 hours a day though, so not the sharpest tool in the shed.

All the replies to this thread are very knowledgeable, and full of experience.

If someone was offered more money and said "No, I'd rather have my job title changed" I would interpret that they're going to flee.

 

But if a person gets a the senior or lead, I think their job prospects decline as such position in the job market are compared to junior positions is less, so if we get these higher designations, then I guess it would be difficult to switch between jobs. Even if the jobs are same at the title, say software engineer, still no two jobs are gonna be same.

I read an article that in gaming industry, veteran game developers find it difficult to switch or find a job.

But if a person gets a the senior or lead, I think their job prospects decline as such position in the job market are compared to junior positions is less

While there are obviously less senior roles than junior roles, when you get to a position of seniority, you're far more likely to have job security and less likely to need a job market. And for the times you are looking for a job, by this time, your experience should speak for itself.