This Is a Title

You're doing the work. You're not getting the title. You've been the engineer solving the hardest problems, shipping critical projects, mentoring others—and watching people with less experience and less impact advance past you. You've been told to "just keep doing great work" while suspecting that's not actually how it works. You're right. It's not. This Is a Title is about the gap between the work you do and the recognition you receive. It's about the unwritten rules of engineering advancement that nobody explains—the visibility games, the manager relationships, the calibration politics, the difference between being ready and being promoted. This isn't a career guide full of platitudes. It's not a success manual from someone who made it and wants to share wisdom from the top. It's an honest, sometimes bleak look at how things actually work, written by an engineer who spent nearly two decades confused by the same dynamics you're navigating. Most of this book was written in federal prison, on commissary paper, with a lot of time to think. It's not polished advice from an expert. It's field notes from someone still in the middle of it—trying to name what's happening, understand why, and figure out what to do about it. If you've felt the gap, this book is for you.