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What’s in a Name? A Lot, If You’re Working in Tech
It’s not a simple role description — it is an identity badge
As of March 15, the world was informed of Elon Musk’s title change from Tesla’s chief executive officer (CEO) into “technoking” (as in “king of technology”) of the company.
The CEO of the electric car giant has submitted a document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asking for the official registration of his new title, as well as one for the automaker’s financial director (CFO) as “master of coin.”
What does this change imply? The document filed with the SEC states that “Elon and Zach will also maintain their respective positions as chief executive officer and chief financial officer.” Therefore the reason for the new titles is unclear and may not even have any significant impact in practical terms.
If you are not familiar with the tech industry culture, you probably considered this move to be only one more of Musk’s eccentricities. On the other hand, if you are inside the tech business, you have probably already encountered some job boards like this:
Where do these job titles come from?
The use of imaginative job titles goes back at least to the turn of the millennium.
By the time of the dot-com boom, tech employers often had an unconventional title to reflect the novelty and disruptive nature of their industry. But this practice was not exclusive to the then-recent software industry, appearing in nearly every business sector, from food to the entertainment industry. This trend was popularized in “Job Titles of the Future,” a regular feature of Fast Company, where people with unusual job titles were interviewed.
Nowadays, revamping classic job titles can be used for different purposes.
In a talent-starved market, as is the case in the tech sector in particular, revamping classic titles in job ads is an attempt to stand out and attract more applicants. Some companies only add a creative adjective to the classic professional…
