Hello friends,
I am working in Germany for the last 7 years in the same company (a big multinational) as a programmer.
During this time I have worked on many small as well as big projects and as the things look I can keep on working here as long as I wish.
By title I was a programmer when I came in this company and looks like I'll stay with the same title as long as I stay here.
I think it's a normal thing in Germany.

My Question is, doesn't it block your future susscess if you want to join another place and you have kept the same title over a long period.

Some of my friends say if I don't get my job title improved, after some time I'll get stuck with this title and then even if I wish to change my job and move to a higher position the other employers will take me as a person who can't excel in the field.

What do you say?

@Khokhar

Just start calling yourself the CTO and put that also in your e-mail signature. Nobody would notice :-)

bwahahahaha....

I luv this

@Akshay:
it was funny and a good joke but not a sincere reply :-(
I thought you guys may share some experience or some advice but may be this forum is only for asking about visa experiences and troubles with Bezirksamt.

Anyways thanks that you spent your valueable time to ridicule the question.

Hi,

why don't you talk with your boss (or Abteilungsleiter/project leader) about it? He will not be annoyed about this, I guess he already waited for your approach.

There is nothing wrong in beeing a bit ambitious in your profession.

Good luck
Detlef

@Khokhar

You missed the point. It is entirely upto you to choose a title. If you started as Programmer then after 7 years you can project yourself as Senior Programmer to Team Leader.

Why not the CTO? (if you are the only IT guy in company :-) )

@KhoKhar

Yes, what your friends said is correct particularly when you want to change to some American or Indian companies. Generally in MNC's you will have yearly reviews about your work and career enhancement skills, there you might have been asked to mention your long term goals. So if you want to be as a programmer life long as some people do then all is well, but just check that your salary is at least on par with the market.

My personal opinion is its not worth to be a programmer life long, you have to move on. Today there are many code generation tools. If you work with Rational tools or UML you might already know this. If you want to grow in technical area then you need to improve your architectural skills and then using your architecture docs some developers can generate code, your valuable experience should guide some new programmers. With your experience, I would have placed you as a team lead or Architect position depending upon you capabilities.

Hope this helps

Dear all,

thanks for your inputs and that's exactly what I wished for when I opened this post.

I am intending to check with my Manager in this regards as salary wise I am in a good bracket related to the experience I have and according to German standards. But mentally I do wish to have a better job title which will give me some kind of sense of achievement :-) (though in my company my projects already do that)

Anyway thanks again.