Job Title Help

Business
1

Hi,

Im new here and unsure if this is the right place to ask but i found through search that people here have asked for help for a Job Title.

Im currently working in an IT company in Asia as a Senior Software Engineer and my company has plans to form a strategic alliance with an US company. As im one of the few staff fluent in English, my boss has requested me to become the contact person if our companies do end up doing business, and want me to participate in the discussions next week. They want to print me a new business card for this role and i cannot think of what that title would be.

Thoughts are:

  • International communications officer
  • International liaisons officer

But i dont think it quite fits, any other suggestions?

Thanks for any help.

2

Senior Software Engineer

Period.

America is the land of title inflation, what with the fry cook being a “Vice President In Charge of French Fries”

Take a lesson and don’t do that. For one thing you’re going to foster expectations which go far beyond an acquaintance with the language.

All native English speaking software project teams have gone off the rails. They do so because you can all speak the same language like a native, nod in agreement, then gallop off in all different directions only to wonder what the heck happened.

Engineers also have a nasty (well deserved) reputation for faulty communications. But only with humans.

Combine this with the vast oceans of differences between cultures, and you have a recipe for project failure. Printing a business card should be your very last concern. (Although doing so does make you sound rather American, that’s nothing to aspire to)

Earn the fancy title first. Then print the cards. English is barely a first step.

Non–conventional Truths about American–German Business is a great introduction to context, because it discusses two western, first-world, technological cultures with many similarities.

Tom Ernsing explains, “Germans tend to view a presentation as a format for ideas that are profound, abstract, and conceptually complete, conveying the same depth out loud as they would have on paper. Americans tend to regard a presentation as a format for performing and marketing their ideas to an audience, relying more on emotional appeal.”

Those who scoff set the foundation for global-scale screwups like the the DailmlerChrysler merger and separation. Germans consider Americans superficial twits, and Americans come off thinking the Germans are humourless *****. Pretty much without the censorship.

I haven’t even touched on decision models, which are all different.

Indo-Asian / American misunderstandings are exponentially more frequent and serious. And there are books on the misunderstandings of east versus west.

Related:

The Rise and Fall of Homo Logicus you really have bitten off more than you can chew. You don’t need a business card – you are going to need a lightning rod.

3

That’s about as much of your post as I read before I started to lose interest. Your post seems quite inflated to me.

I would not use the term ‘officer’ in your title if possible, because that term has very specific connotations in the US. I’m not entirely sure that your title would need to be changed to reflect the fact that you are acting as the liaison to the other teams. I’d also leave it as ‘Sr. Software Engineer’.

4

Hi guys,

Thanks for your thoughts on the topic, I also felt uncomfortable with the idea too, so i will bring it up.

Cheers,

5

Your post seems quite inflated to me.

Upon reflection, I may have understated things…

The platoon of presidents at PacBell reflects a wave of title inflation rippling through corporate America. Today’s executives, like generations of bosses before them, are snaring lofty-sounding titles for themselves and awarding upgraded tags to some of their valued subordinates.

As in years past, the chief aims are to impress potential customers and to placate employees–often without giving them meaningful pay raises.

Now, however, title inflation is being raised to new heights largely as a result of a fresh burst of big mergers. Experts say that when merger partners want to dodge tough decisions about how to blend their management ranks, they often hand out puffed-up titles to blunt internal tensions and blur distinctions in the new pecking order.

– Title Inflation–Standard Fare in Banking, Hollywood–Is Now in Corporate America

There are presidents everywhere in business these days — corporate presidents, of course, but also presidents of divisions, regions and product lines. General Motors has around a dozen, from the president of the whole company to presidents in various countries to the president of its OnStar division.
There are seemingly endless numbers of chief officers — of technology, marketing, sustainability, people, diversity and more. Vice chairmen (not so many vice chairwomen) are cropping up all over.

“Now you find instead of the head of human resources, it’s chief people officer,” said Steven E. Gross, the global rewards consulting leader at Mercer. “The role hasn’t changed. There is this upward pressure for everybody to have bigger titles.”

–Maybe Everyone Will Be a C.E.O.

High-tech start-ups have no patience with the bland job titles of yesteryear. Fast Company magazine’s monthly survey of “job titles of the future” has come across actual people with the titles “idea ambassador,” “knowledge sorceress,” “chief reality officer,” and “curator of the enlightened orchard.”

– Feeling Entitled? Huey Long’s aspiration—“Every man a king!”—is at last within our grasp

A friend of mine is a recruiter. There are no regular employees in that office, everyone is a “vice president.” Says so right on their business cards.