I also feel this insane pressure here in Silicon Valley. The first question you're asked is 'what do you do for work?', which then determines how important you are. Unfortunately, I do that too.
There is also this version of it in the startup community: 'what did you ship this weekend?' or 'where is your MRR at'? That signifies whether you're 'cracked' (a talent with insane caliber and rigor, ready to do whatever it takes to make it work).
This world sucks you in. It's exciting. But it's also weird, coming from a very simple upbringing in Ukraine, digging dirt, and climbing garages, to now all this :)
Thanks for sharing your experience and what you've observed. I get into this trap every single time and this is my reminder to take a minute to think who I am truly and what actually matters. Huge respect to you for making the move to a quieter place, so your kids can have a childhood.
It's so interesting to me that 'cracked' also means insane, but yet something to aspire to in that context. I'm sure those folks would like, yeah I'm crazy...for my job! 🙄
This is a great topic to dissect & there must be so many different examples to learn from on it. I'm the VP Marketing at Tyk (worked my way up from when I was the first marketing hire) but in a casual networking situation I never give my VP title. I guess I don't feel it's that relevant, but I've also probably been socialised not to 'show off' (I'm a British woman... enough said!) That said I do take some perverse pleasure in seeing how much the conversation shifts based on what my perceived status is to the other person 😈
LOVE! All of the "ex-whatevah" feels so sad to me when I see it. From my LI profile you know what I do, why I love it and why I excel in it, and that's all you need to know. Although, I do like that my company has given a hat tip to the 25 years of experience I have in my discipline with a "Principle" in front of my title, so maybe I'm a bit of a hypocrite.
When you live in or move to a place where saas is not the primary (or only) industry, it gives you a lot of perspective on your identity vis a vis your job. In Silicon Valley, you're in the belly of the beast. The times I've visited there it was shocking to me how much of the ambient conversation (on the street, in line for coffee, at a bar) was all about tech. Honestly, it was kind of annoying and it left me wondering if I sounded like that back home!
I come from a place where tech is a big part of our economy, but there are multiple industries just as strong or stronger. When you're at a party and you're introduced to people that your friend in another industry knows is some big muckety muck and you have NO IDEA who this person is—you realize the same is true of all the "big players" you know of and probably yourself.
This is a great article and really resonated with me. However, the "ex-whatever" title unfortunately also determines whether or not a recruiter looks at your resume. In this job market it feels like not having a fancy company on your resume can greatly reduce your chances of getting a look when applying for roles.
While I do agree with this and have followed this my entire career, I ended up not advocating for promotions or better titles for myself, so here I am, a very proficient person "stuck" at a lower title and making lateral jumps to other companies who are also downlevelling me, so now I am swinging to the other side of the pendulum where title matters to me a lot more than it did before. I might not use it to introduce myself but its an indicator of my influence inside the company and outside.
I also feel this insane pressure here in Silicon Valley. The first question you're asked is 'what do you do for work?', which then determines how important you are. Unfortunately, I do that too.
There is also this version of it in the startup community: 'what did you ship this weekend?' or 'where is your MRR at'? That signifies whether you're 'cracked' (a talent with insane caliber and rigor, ready to do whatever it takes to make it work).
This world sucks you in. It's exciting. But it's also weird, coming from a very simple upbringing in Ukraine, digging dirt, and climbing garages, to now all this :)
Thanks for sharing your experience and what you've observed. I get into this trap every single time and this is my reminder to take a minute to think who I am truly and what actually matters. Huge respect to you for making the move to a quieter place, so your kids can have a childhood.
It's so interesting to me that 'cracked' also means insane, but yet something to aspire to in that context. I'm sure those folks would like, yeah I'm crazy...for my job! 🙄
This is a great topic to dissect & there must be so many different examples to learn from on it. I'm the VP Marketing at Tyk (worked my way up from when I was the first marketing hire) but in a casual networking situation I never give my VP title. I guess I don't feel it's that relevant, but I've also probably been socialised not to 'show off' (I'm a British woman... enough said!) That said I do take some perverse pleasure in seeing how much the conversation shifts based on what my perceived status is to the other person 😈
LOVE! All of the "ex-whatevah" feels so sad to me when I see it. From my LI profile you know what I do, why I love it and why I excel in it, and that's all you need to know. Although, I do like that my company has given a hat tip to the 25 years of experience I have in my discipline with a "Principle" in front of my title, so maybe I'm a bit of a hypocrite.
Whole lotta high ranking people getting DMs at the moment asking if they're happy
When you live in or move to a place where saas is not the primary (or only) industry, it gives you a lot of perspective on your identity vis a vis your job. In Silicon Valley, you're in the belly of the beast. The times I've visited there it was shocking to me how much of the ambient conversation (on the street, in line for coffee, at a bar) was all about tech. Honestly, it was kind of annoying and it left me wondering if I sounded like that back home!
I come from a place where tech is a big part of our economy, but there are multiple industries just as strong or stronger. When you're at a party and you're introduced to people that your friend in another industry knows is some big muckety muck and you have NO IDEA who this person is—you realize the same is true of all the "big players" you know of and probably yourself.
Love this.
This is a great article and really resonated with me. However, the "ex-whatever" title unfortunately also determines whether or not a recruiter looks at your resume. In this job market it feels like not having a fancy company on your resume can greatly reduce your chances of getting a look when applying for roles.
While I do agree with this and have followed this my entire career, I ended up not advocating for promotions or better titles for myself, so here I am, a very proficient person "stuck" at a lower title and making lateral jumps to other companies who are also downlevelling me, so now I am swinging to the other side of the pendulum where title matters to me a lot more than it did before. I might not use it to introduce myself but its an indicator of my influence inside the company and outside.
I loved this, resonated with me a lot