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I'm writing my resume and I need a word that will be widely recognised in a professional workplace environment to describe how I am the main fixer-uperer i.e. the person everyone goes to when things go wrong.

Are there any such roles or words used within the workplace to describe this role?

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    "Go-to guy", maybe, but you better justify it with concrete examples, as Kate says.
    – Spehro Pefhany
    Jan 26, 2016 at 1:57
  • Trouble shooter
    – Kilisi ♦
    Jan 26, 2016 at 6:56
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    If you're just asking for a word or synonym then you should look for a dictionary. Consider rephrasing this to "how do I sell my status as the go-to-guy on my resume?" instead which can have meaningful answers.
    – Lilienthal ♦
    Jan 26, 2016 at 10:14
  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because as-written it can be answered with a dictionary and is specific to a language, not the workplace.
    – Lilienthal ♦
    Jan 26, 2016 at 10:15
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    @Lilienthal I would argue that asking for the correct or widely recognised term for a role, that is recognised and specifically accepted within a workplace environment is on-topic. You can speculate that the OP should have asked a different question to help solve their underlying problem, but they did not and that does not invalidate their actual question in my opinion. I am voting to reopen.
    – Marv Mills
    Jan 26, 2016 at 15:13

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When it comes to resumes, nouns don't impress me; verbs do. Don't tell me what you are: tell me what you did. In your cover letter, tell me what you're good at.

You say you're the person everyone goes to when things go wrong. Is that because you debug production crashes better than anyone else on the team? Or is it because you keep your head in a crisis and are amazing at making a plan to solve big problems while others are paralyzed? Or are you someone who makes those pragmatic and practical lateral leaps that get past roadblocks when no-one else would ever have thought of that? Are you the only one who will tell the boss or the client the truth? The only one who really understands the system you're maintaining? When you rescue projects, what is it that you actually do?

Now go through each job in your resume and make sure there's a sentence that tells me that. What you do and why it matters. Put that on your resume and you'll impress me. I'll make up my own nouns (and adjectives) while I'm reading, and when I interview you I'll be seeing if you can prove your claims.

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    Perhaps he's the one who broke everything in the first place, and only he knows how to fix it again!
    – Simon B
    Jan 26, 2016 at 16:42
  • This is good general advice, and it is what I am trying to do in my resume, but it doesn't answer my actual question. I still think it is useful to have an easily identifiable label, something that sums the kind of function I have had and then list what I did
    – Bamboo
    Jan 26, 2016 at 23:19
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My main source of income is exactly that, I'm known as a troubleshooter, it's not a recognised profession though so I didn't have it on my CV when I had one.

Instead I listed my skills and responsibilities in past jobs, and listed it high in the responsibilities with a summary explanation.

Basically the buck stopped with me, so I explained it as responsible overall for the successful technical resolution of any major issues in my fields. And added to that for specifics if necessary.

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The main term used around here for this is 'Subject Matter Expert', commonly abbreviated as 'SME'. This denotes someone who knows enough about the subject, whatever it is, to be the "go-to guy" if expert advice is needed or there are problems no-one else knows how to solve.

A subject-matter expert (SME) or domain expert is a person who is an authority in a particular area or topic.

wikipedia.org


So you could be "The SME for [this system]" or "The SME for all our office systems and processes"...

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  • Although be aware that in many jurisdictions "expert" can add an extra legal burden. One of the Big 4 companies I worked for insisted on Subject Matter Professional to avoid any problems.
    – Laconic Droid
    Jan 26, 2016 at 14:44
  • @LaconicDroid Never heard that, but good call...
    – Marv Mills
    Jan 26, 2016 at 15:10
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    in my universe, the subject matter expert understands the real-world rules around the system we're building. A financial analyst for a financial system, a structural engineer for an engineering design system, a HR expert for an HR system, etc. In many cases they have no programming ability at all. Be cautious using this word on your resume - it may cause someone to assume you can't program and have been on teams for your knowledge of other subjects, such as finance, engineering, or HR.
    – Kate Gregory
    Jan 26, 2016 at 17:57

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