Hot take: I used to chase titles, now I chase actual problems to solve

Back in 2022 in Austin I was dead set on getting a manager title by 25. I turned down a lateral move to a data role because it sounded less impressive. Then my mentor said 'nobody cares what your business card says, they care if you can find the thing that breaks their day.' That hit me. I switched to a support team fixing customer pain points, no fancy rank. Six months in I got promoted anyway because I actually fixed stuff people complained about. Maybe titles follow the work, not the other way around. Has anyone else dropped a promotion path and seen it come back? What made you change your mind?

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paul_thompson6717d ago

sounds less impressive" is the part that gets me. I mean, was it actually less impressive or did it just not have the word manager in it? Because there is a big gap between the two. Idk, maybe it's just me but the whole thing reads like a story where the ending was decided before it started. Plenty of people take the data role, grind quietly, and get nothing for two years, and plenty of people chase titles and get them. One case where it worked out doesn't really prove titles follow the work. And honestly the mentor line about the business card is the kind of thing that sounds deep but mostly means you got lucky that someone noticed what you fixed. Feels like a neat lesson wrapped around a messy real world, is all I'm saying.

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