OpenAI's Greg Brockman says the company adopted the 'Member of Technical Staff' title to prevent researcher-engineer divisions
Alan Kay recommended the title based on Xerox PARC
@gdb Great decision!
Greg Brockman@gdb@Yuchenj_UW The title has a long history, but here’s how we decided to bring it to OpenAI:
#427Yuchen Jin@YUCHENJ_UWTech industry spent decades building a title and leveling system.
Greg brought the “Member of Technical Staff”, originally invented at Bell Labs, to OpenAI. It has been adopted by Anthropic, xAI, Thinky, and many AI startups.
Young MTS can have huge impact. Alec created GPT for example. In a traditional system, he was just an “L4 software engineer”.
Databricks AI recently started using MTS as well. I think this is a very positive change in Silicon Valley.
Yuchen Jin@Yuchenj_UWWhoever invented “Member of Technical Staff” was a genius. It filters out Staff/Principal title-maxxers, protects engineering and research from corporate ladder brain, and leaves recruiters staring at LinkedIn like: “Is this person L4 or L7?” MTS is the best title. Happy to be MTS.
#839Beff (e/acc)@BEFFJEZOSAnd as a founder you have to be all 3