I created my own most recent title about a year ago. I might have helped create my previous title 30 years ago.
My job is to be the IT “glue” between our technical teams, our operations teams and our client. I changed managers about eighteen months ago during a minor reorg. I have a real boss in IT and I have an acting boss in Operations. My real boss explained the new organization to me.
You’ll technically report to me, but I expect you to work with Darren for everything you need. He and I will coordinate on your reviews. Any questions?
Not really. Sounds like I just keep doing what I’ve been doing.
Yep. But, you’ll need a new title.
What is it?
I don’t know. Why don’t you see what you can come up with.
Despite what you might think, and the suggestion that “When they tell you to write your own check: right a big check,” I did not have unlimited options for my title. For example, my boss is a Senior Vice President. But, no way was I getting a title with “VP” or “director” in it.
We ended up with IT Operations Specialist. It’s appropriately vague to allow me the latitude to do whatever I need to get done. I don’t often tell people my title. It rarely matters. Most people think I’m a Technical Account Manager, or TAM.
That was the title I had before the reorg. And in a ironic twist that proves if you stay in this business long enough, everything comes back around, I helped pioneer the role of TAM 30 years ago at WordPerfect corporation.
I was the first TAM, but not the first to hold that title. One of the early adopters of WordPerfect’s email system was the Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA. They had trouble getting it to work. They were trying to host 30,000 email accounts on a system designed for 5% that many. They became frustrated at having to explain their system every time they called in for support. I was tapped to “make it work.” I had the latitude to do whatever I needed to do to get the job done.
Over the course of about 6 months, several cross country trips from Utah to Washington DC and Research Triangle Park, I did it. I got their system built and stable. This success laid the foundation for both WordPerfect’s Strategic WordPerfect Assistance Team (SWAT) and their Technical Account Manager (TAM) roles.
Being a SWAT team members was a way cooler title than being a TAM. But, honestly, the clients, WordPerfect’s biggest accounts, were really just interested in us fixing their problems.
That sounds a lot like my current role. No one really cares about my title, including me. They just want me to fix the problems and make it work.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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