Next to writing about myself in third person (’Ms. Philipsen has over 7 years web development experience with technologies ranging from JAVA Swing to PHP…’), the most uncomfortable thing for me to do is “rate” my abilities. This time, I have a scale as such:
EP (Exceptional Performance) i.e. “Rock Star”
AP+ (Accomplished Performance Plus) i.e. “Lead Guitarist”
AP (Accomplished Perfomance) i.e. “Keyboardist”
AP- (Accomplished Performance Minus) i.e. “Roadie”
UP (Unacceptable Performance) i.e. “Groupie”
Of course, the ego in me wants all EPs for all aspects of my self appraisal. However, I just don’t think I am being at all objective if I label myself total and utter “Rock Star”. So, in the spirit of objectivity, I banish the ego and try sprinkle the EPs with a few AP+ and AP for good measure… you know, “room to grow”.
How do others handle this?
On interviews, I’m occasionally asked to rate myself on a scale from one to ten. One consulting firm I worked for recommended that unless I have good reason not to, I should answer most of these questions with a seven or an eight. It implies competence without arrogance. Of course, it’s also rather cynical, so YMMV.
(Shouldn’t UP correspond to “Drummer”?)
Nah, bro. The Drummer is actually the COOLEST member of the band. He’s got to keep a beat with a foot AND two hands.
I’m not even sure why keyboardist is middle of the road in this analogy. It was a completely arbitrary list between “ROCK STAR” and “GROUPIE”.
Denise, still no linking on your blog for me. And it saddens me deeply,
because I wrote an awesome comment saying that you should rate yourself as
“keytarist,” as keytarists are way more accomplished musicians than actual
keyboard players. But alas, it is lost for good…
[comment added by Denise, because she really really liked the word "keytarist"]
Looks like Rock Star top to bottom would have been accurate.
We shall add you to our blogroll!