Software engineer? Coder? Programmer? Developer? Architect? There are often some technical guidelines to what’s what with roles and titles in the software-maker world, but not always. And I’m assuming there have been times you’ve had to explain what it is you do, whether to someone inside or outside of the biz, where you’ve had to simply pick a name. So, what have you called yourself and why?
This comes to mind thanks to a new blog at Triplebyte Compiler in which Stephan Miller, who’s taken on all of the above titles, lays out his personal experience with the “what’s in a name?” question.
I’d love to get a read on how everyone thinks of these kinds of titles. What do they mean to you and why? Leave a comment in our blog conversation thread!
I generally call myself a (software/web) developer, mostly because it feels intuitively faithful to what I do: I take Ideas for a website and develop them into something tangible, with all the features working in harmony towards the expected goal.
I also call myself an engineer, but rarely - mostly because it feels tightly-coupled with the word 'software engineer' rather than 'web engineer' (again, very clumsy mental shortcuts my brain takes), but when I use it, I always feel like I haven't been specific enough. 'I'm a software engineer/developer' seems to require another question: 'okay, but what kind?'
I rarely call myself a programmer. No idea why. I guess it feels dated somehow.
{Please note this is just opinion}Hi guys, I started programming when I was 6 or 7 years old with my father in 1997 however I would never have called myself anything back then for obvious reasons, I believe it strongly depends on what you're doing and or where you are going with such information, nowadays its not easy with so many different places advocating that one thing or another is right or wrong so I stick with programmer now as it covers almost every base, I have a hard time using the word engineer for myself as I do not feel I have earned the right to yet..
Even here and now we have to tread lightly on the subject however this is what Wikipedia has to say on the subject:
A computer programmer, sometimes called a software developer, a programmer or more recently a coder (especially in more informal contexts), is a person who creates computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computers, or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software.
A programmer's most oft-used computer language (e.g., Assembly, COBOL, C, C++, C#, JavaScript, Lisp, Python) may be prefixed to the term programmer. Some who work with web programming languages also prefix their titles with web.
however a software engineer: A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to the design, development, maintenance, testing, and evaluation of computer software.
Here is web developer from Wikipedia: A web developer is a programmer who specializes in, or is specifically engaged in, the development of World Wide Web applications using a client–server model. The applications typically use HTML, CSS and JavaScript in the client, PHP, ASP.NET (C#), Python, Go or Java in the server, and http for communications between client and server. A web content management system is often used to develop and maintain web applications.
As you can see each title does have its own place in society, each performing very similar concepts but still very different in the long run, for me its about what job I am applying for and what the specifications of that job.. I mean if they say they need a back end developer and you bring them a software developer.. which in most cases the software developer should have no issues dealing with backend web specifications however they are two different titles right?
Hope my post isn't to big and thank you for reading !
oh and P.S Never forget to take a break and look outside or give your wife a hug and be thankful we live in an age where all this is possible.
It depends on my audience. When I talked to my family and friends, it’s programmer / developer. If they are close friends, it’s code monkey (lol). I went with full stack developer for a while. Now I typically refer to myself professionally as software engineer. It’s arguably a conflated title, but my skills are definitely broad and deep enough to justify it. I know how to ship software products that scale securely in the cloud using legacy or bleeding edge tools. Not just the tools I like mind you, but whatever is prudent.
I can speak with with customers and/or product people clearly and say what needs to be said and then move on. When I program with a team, I understand everything (outside of computational complexities) is a choice and think about how others might view my work.
To me, if there is a difference, it’s being able to operate as a fellow creative in the team—the types contributions you make distinguish programmers / developers from engineers. But I can see how elitist that sounds.
At the end of the day, I write code, give me banana.
A computer programmer, sometimes called a software developer, a programmer or more recently a coder (especially in more informal contexts), is a person who creates computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computers, or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software.
A programmer's most oft-used computer language (e.g., Assembly, COBOL, C, C++, C#, JavaScript, Lisp, Python) may be prefixed to the term programmer. Some who work with web programming languages also prefix their titles with web.
however a software engineer: A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to the design, development, maintenance, testing, and evaluation of computer software.
Here is web developer from Wikipedia: A web developer is a programmer who specializes in, or is specifically engaged in, the development of World Wide Web applications using a client–server model. The applications typically use HTML, CSS and JavaScript in the client, PHP, ASP.NET (C#), Python, Go or Java in the server, and http for communications between client and server. A web content management system is often used to develop and maintain web applications.
I generally call myself a (software/web) developer, mostly because it feels intuitively faithful to what I do: I take Ideas for a website and develop them into something tangible, with all the features working in harmony towards the expected goal.
I also call myself an engineer, but rarely - mostly because it feels tightly-coupled with the word 'software engineer' rather than 'web engineer' (again, very clumsy mental shortcuts my brain takes), but when I use it, I always feel like I haven't been specific enough. 'I'm a software engineer/developer' seems to require another question: 'okay, but what kind?'
I rarely call myself a programmer. No idea why. I guess it feels dated somehow.
{Please note this is just opinion}Hi guys, I started programming when I was 6 or 7 years old with my father in 1997 however I would never have called myself anything back then for obvious reasons, I believe it strongly depends on what you're doing and or where you are going with such information, nowadays its not easy with so many different places advocating that one thing or another is right or wrong so I stick with programmer now as it covers almost every base, I have a hard time using the word engineer for myself as I do not feel I have earned the right to yet..
Even here and now we have to tread lightly on the subject however this is what Wikipedia has to say on the subject:
A computer programmer, sometimes called a software developer, a programmer or more recently a coder (especially in more informal contexts), is a person who creates computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computers, or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software.
A programmer's most oft-used computer language (e.g., Assembly, COBOL, C, C++, C#, JavaScript, Lisp, Python) may be prefixed to the term programmer. Some who work with web programming languages also prefix their titles with web.
however a software engineer: A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to the design, development, maintenance, testing, and evaluation of computer software.
Here is web developer from Wikipedia: A web developer is a programmer who specializes in, or is specifically engaged in, the development of World Wide Web applications using a client–server model. The applications typically use HTML, CSS and JavaScript in the client, PHP, ASP.NET (C#), Python, Go or Java in the server, and http for communications between client and server. A web content management system is often used to develop and maintain web applications.
As you can see each title does have its own place in society, each performing very similar concepts but still very different in the long run, for me its about what job I am applying for and what the specifications of that job.. I mean if they say they need a back end developer and you bring them a software developer.. which in most cases the software developer should have no issues dealing with backend web specifications however they are two different titles right?
Hope my post isn't to big and thank you for reading !
oh and P.S Never forget to take a break and look outside or give your wife a hug and be thankful we live in an age where all this is possible.
It depends on my audience. When I talked to my family and friends, it’s programmer / developer. If they are close friends, it’s code monkey (lol). I went with full stack developer for a while. Now I typically refer to myself professionally as software engineer. It’s arguably a conflated title, but my skills are definitely broad and deep enough to justify it. I know how to ship software products that scale securely in the cloud using legacy or bleeding edge tools. Not just the tools I like mind you, but whatever is prudent.
I can speak with with customers and/or product people clearly and say what needs to be said and then move on. When I program with a team, I understand everything (outside of computational complexities) is a choice and think about how others might view my work.
To me, if there is a difference, it’s being able to operate as a fellow creative in the team—the types contributions you make distinguish programmers / developers from engineers. But I can see how elitist that sounds.
At the end of the day, I write code, give me banana.
Hy to all!
Developer/AppDev/dev/programmer/droid:if("in work;->N level dev droid(Has "Architect" in team/house(not you))");
Engineer/Architect:if("in (work/pesonal) IMPORTANT projects(The team/project Architect is you+YOU send the commands to droids!)");
//of course, this may vary from project to project
Agreed.
A computer programmer, sometimes called a software developer, a programmer or more recently a coder (especially in more informal contexts), is a person who creates computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computers, or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software.
A programmer's most oft-used computer language (e.g., Assembly, COBOL, C, C++, C#, JavaScript, Lisp, Python) may be prefixed to the term programmer. Some who work with web programming languages also prefix their titles with web.
however a software engineer: A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to the design, development, maintenance, testing, and evaluation of computer software.
Here is web developer from Wikipedia: A web developer is a programmer who specializes in, or is specifically engaged in, the development of World Wide Web applications using a client–server model. The applications typically use HTML, CSS and JavaScript in the client, PHP, ASP.NET (C#), Python, Go or Java in the server, and http for communications between client and server. A web content management system is often used to develop and maintain web applications.