Confronting failure as a core life skill
I am pretty open about my past failures with others but I definitely understand why people aren&#x27;t.  There is a stigma associated with failure that society still hasn&#x27;t accepted.  My last job I held the title of VP of Engineering.  It was a small company and during my time there I recognized that the title was outsized for what I actually did.  I was actually more of an Engineering Manager.  All of my direct reports were ICs not other managers.<p>I ended up leaving that job because politically at that company I had no voice, and people above me lacked basic leadership skills and continually failed to recognize it.  Additionally whenever I would call out issues, it always would somehow manifest into a problem with me.  So I ended up leaving, and not on great terms.<p>Once I took a long break, I started looking for jobs again.  The title I carried on my resume was bullshit, and trying to interview for Senior Engineering positions proved difficult.  When I made the interview I made it clear what I did at that company.  I told them that the title didn&#x27;t represent my duties.  I feel like some saw this as a blight.  I finally accepted a job as a Software Engineer and now am slowly fixing my career.<p>The lesson I learned was to never accept a worthless title.  Somehow people still misunderstand my directness about this job in my history.  It carries a strange weight, but hopefully with time I can correct it.