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In a previous non-writing job, our supervisor was very reluctant to name
anyone a "senior" or "lead". And he would certainly never use the term
"junior" or "associate".
His idea, I think, was to promote a team attitude. Instead of pigeonholing
us into doing one small set of tasks, everyone could and should do
everything. One of the side effects (or maybe the intended effect) is that
we all took on responsibility for making our publications department (about
6 people) more efficient and productive. I think most of us liked our jobs
better, too--we appreciated the variety and there was a lot more give and
take.
Toward the end of my stint there, I was made lead, but virtually the only
effect of this new title was the size of my paycheck (and a notation on my
resume).
Now I can look back on this situation and appreciate what he was trying to
do. At the time I was often frustrated because it felt like I was getting
no recognition whatsoever. There's probably a happy medium somewhere.
Sella Rush mailto:sellar -at- apptechsys -dot- com
Applied Technical Systems (ATS)
Bremerton, Washington
Developers of the CCM Database
