PROGRAMMING

The Difference Between A Developer And A Software Engineer

Or… Why you should call yourself an ‘engineer’ — or lift your game from just being a ‘developer’

Image by Author :)

Defining Developer vs. Engineer

If we head on over to any dictionary — here is what they will say:

• Developer:
  (noun) a person or thing that develops or innovates
• Engineer:
  (noun) a person trained and skilled in the design, construction, and use of engines or machines, or in any of various branches of engineering

In my experience, a developer is someone who writes code, however, an engineer is someone who solves problems, and uses code to do it.

I blame¹ the dot-com boom and inevitable bust for this massive influx of developers into the IT Industry. People got into it because it was a growth market (nothing wrong with that), but they just aren’t cut out to be software engineers.

Writing code is an art form and a challenge, requiring ingenuity, problem-solving skills, and hard work.

So, I have always been a software engineer, and never a developer.

149 Words

Footnotes:

¹ OK, this is probably not true, and is based on absolutely no empirical evidence, it is just my experience.