Herdsman

My first job after graduation was working for a small startup. The company was so small, we worked out of the basement of my boss' house. I was one of two programmers, two more people did other non-programming jobs, plus my boss was the whole company.

Free subscriptions to trade magazines, and product registrations for products always asked for a job title. Since the company was so small, we didn't have official job titles, so we made up our own. The other programmer chose assistant bottle washer. Wanting an even more bombastic job title, I made up chief assistant llama herder; not the chief, not the assistant, but the chief assistant.

For years, magazines and correspondence arrived at the office addressed to chief assistant llama herder, and being a llama herder, hence herdsman, become associated with me.