Why job posts say things like “ninja”

Fact: there is a persistent and annoying trend of startups posting jobs with nouns like ninja, assassin, samurai, rock star, etc.

Theory: it’s because classical roles are in flux. Technologies are getting easier to use in smaller teams, down to the scale of 1. “Product hackers” or “design-gineer” are cases where one person does the product design + visual design + engineering + maybe even QA/release for an entire “product”. Like an iPhone app or a piece of a website. 

So old titles aren’t good. You want an engineer+. It implies flexibility and effectiveness against uncertain circumstance.