Titles on Linkedin?

I personally find both ways to be fine. What I find more egregious is that in VC they go a level further where associates sometimes market themselves as "Partner" or "Tech Investor" as a ploy to be more successful in sourcing. Incredibly disingenuous in my opinion and I'm shocked that people think founders would be ok with that.

All junior employees at most larger growth shops are told to change title to "tech investor" so founders don't curve their sourcing attempts because they see they graduated the year before. It might look pompous from the outside but you can definitely see why it makes sense. 

Specifying PE is fine. Associate at Blackstone or KKR can mean so so many things.

I'd prefer the specifics. Even if it is just a weird flex. 

I put "Private Equity Associate" because I was non target to middling consulting firm to top tier PE. Now, it feels good to have made it. I'm really proud and while it's superficial, I enjoy the moment to show off. I worked hard for it. The title feels good. Sue me.

I'm partial to "Incoming 2023 Investment Banking Coffee Chat Participant at Goldman Sachs" myself.

Don't say "Investor at..."

I find: Investment Professional at "..." does the trick for your headline - not pompous or bordering on the untrue / overstating. You can be more specific in the job description section if you so wish.

People put "PE Associate" because an "Associate" could mean so many thing. At MF/UMM/MM there are people working in middle and back office roles with Associate title so to distinguish adding 'PE' makes sense

Am I the only one who read “Tities on LinkedIn”?

Including PE on there is absolutely fine. Don't read too much into this sht 

the same thing applies in banking right? I put "Investment Banking Analyst at Goldman Sachs" because I didn't want anyone to think I was in equity sales or risk or something stupid even though my title was technically just "Analyst" (within IBD). 

Maybe headhunters are smarter than we think but I know people in my circle do it so that their profiles get hits when headhunters search for “private equity associates” on LinkedIn. Kind of meaningless because all the important ones should already have your profile but you never know which random headhunter will come knock on your door.

The real question is why do people in ECM/DCM put "Investment Banking Analyst"?

There is nothing wrong with working in capital markets, one could consider it a banking exit opp, but I feel it is disingenuous to put "Investment Banking Analyst" when you have no modeling experience

Personally found that when I just had “Associate” I got hit up by recruiters for a wider range of roles, like FP&A, data analyst, etc. Since moving it to to “Private Equity Associate” I tend to get more targeted outreach - PE laterals, hedge funds, etc. YMMV