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Comment by vkou | Hacker News Reader

An EM in a software firm is the equivalent of a lead clerk in a grocery.

I'm not sure I understand the metaphor, since I've never worked as a lead clerk in a grocery store. Do you mind elaborating?

He’s saying you’re as far from an executive as the janitor is. You don’t even have a personal assistant.

The original comment to which I replied said "most managers and execs", so I thought I'd address the "managers" part of it.

On the labor/management divide, I'd put the overwhelming majority of line managers far closer to the labor side.

But that's the point of the vast array of fancy corporate titles, it's a nice way to get them to feel closer to the management and thus side with the execs despite not receiving the same privileges, Not many feel very important working as a line manager, but a Senior Solutions and Progress Development Analyst...Wow!

I've never worked for a line manager that has 'sided with the execs' in any meaningful manner. I'm sure there are plenty of sycophants and sociopaths that do, but it's not a broadly accurate generalization.

To wit: When one gets an order to, say, pick two people to fire, or get fired himself, carrying out the order doesn't regularly mean that they 'side' with it.

Considering everyone today is a “social media manager” or “email marketing manager”, and I have even seen “QA manager”, chances are there are more individual-contributor being called “managers” than managers themselves.

I’m sure an EM can extrapolate the role of lead clerk at the grocery store. The EM probably goes to the grocery store and has interacted with the grocery store workers.

If you’re meaningfully engaged with actual engineering work, you’re not an executive.

If you worked for a state government or defense contractor, you’d still be in the union.

That’s not an insult or a dig.

Wasn't taken as such at all, I was genuinely curious -- never heard the term.

You might be familiar with a shift manager?

The person who has some power about who to fire, but still flips burgers or mans the cash register when everyone else is busy.

Not saying it's not a noble job, but it's very far from executive.

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