[mikemol]

I don't think it matters, really. As the article notes, it leads to cynicism about title changes and promotions, but job title prestige isn't (and probably have never been) a good way to evaluate employee and/or role value.

It used to be that it wasn't the company's president you wanted to satisfy, but his secretary--yet which held more prestige?

[lsc]

I'm with you. Giving someone a grand title is free; If a ridiculous title makes an employee even a little bit happier, who am I to deny him that small boon?

[mikemol]

Well, I'm part of a one-man company. I just call myself the 'principal' there.

I've been the newest part of a four-man company for the past three years. I chose "computer programmer" for my job title. It seems that whatever your job title is in the tech industry, any appearance of actively working directly with the tech carries more prestige than sounding like you have some kind of managerial role.

[gaius]

Why assign any meaning to any word then?

C'mon. You're a programmer. You should be used to unambiguous use of language...

[lsc]

with regards to titles, the ship has sailed a long time ago. It's like calling a product or service "cloud" - it can mean almost anything.

The thing is, some words and phrases have a very specific meaning. Say, xen-based virtual private server, and you have a pretty good idea what you are getting. Other words have a very nebulous meaning. say "cloud service" and you might as well say "solution" for all the information it conveys. It's folly to insist on a tight definition of a word once the rest of the industry has decided it's meaningless.