Too Old For The Job
That sounds worrying, doesn't it? Luckily it's the job title that may be too old, not me.
Because of the impending change to the law that will outlaw ageism, it's been suggested that my job title of Senior Software Developer might no longer be appropriate, as Senior could be taken to suggest that you have to be an old dude to hold such a post. At 39, I guess I'm an old dude in some people's eyes and a whippersnapper in others, so personally I don't feel too pigeon-holed.
Senior can of course be interpreted in ways that have nothing to do with age, but it's the ambiguity that could be a problem.
Apparently we're not dead set on changing people's existing job titles, but we definitely wouldn't want to advertise such roles with the same name, so I've been asked whether I can think of any preferable alternative descriptions of what I do, and it's quite difficult to come up with something satisfactory. It would also be nice, though probably not essential, if the suggested alternative could be used in other disciplines, as we have other "senior" staff who aren't in software development.
To give you a rough idea of what I do, I am responsible for designing our project architectures and for advising and encouraging best practices, but I don't have a lot of say in directing what we do when, and I don't have anyone reporting to me.
Although I'm in favour of development becoming more regarded as being an engineering discipline, I'm also in favour of Engineer meaning something in terms of formal qualifications and/or professional memberships, so sadly Engineer might not be a good word to include.
Because of the impending change to the law that will outlaw ageism, it's been suggested that my job title of Senior Software Developer might no longer be appropriate, as Senior could be taken to suggest that you have to be an old dude to hold such a post. At 39, I guess I'm an old dude in some people's eyes and a whippersnapper in others, so personally I don't feel too pigeon-holed.
Senior can of course be interpreted in ways that have nothing to do with age, but it's the ambiguity that could be a problem.
Apparently we're not dead set on changing people's existing job titles, but we definitely wouldn't want to advertise such roles with the same name, so I've been asked whether I can think of any preferable alternative descriptions of what I do, and it's quite difficult to come up with something satisfactory. It would also be nice, though probably not essential, if the suggested alternative could be used in other disciplines, as we have other "senior" staff who aren't in software development.
To give you a rough idea of what I do, I am responsible for designing our project architectures and for advising and encouraging best practices, but I don't have a lot of say in directing what we do when, and I don't have anyone reporting to me.
Although I'm in favour of development becoming more regarded as being an engineering discipline, I'm also in favour of Engineer meaning something in terms of formal qualifications and/or professional memberships, so sadly Engineer might not be a good word to include.