There are those of you who might disagree with MY assessment… so I wonder what you do think…
but here is MY outlook on those 3 terms
CODER - a person who writes source code, based on what he/she is told to do, with no real insight into the final product.
DEVELOPER - a person who designs and writes source code, with full knowledge and control over the contents and end result.
ENGINEER - a person who is not only a DEVELOPER, but has intimate knowledge of the internals of the OS, as well as the inner workings of all the tools being used. This person may not necessarily write any code, they may in fact be the one that delegates it to a “CODER”
I would put most of us in the DEVELOPER category… with obviously a few as ENGINEERS
and obviously there is a wide range of skill and knowledge for each of those categorys
Yes, I agree with what you wrote. My guess is that I would fit in the Engineer category. Your carefully worded definition mentions this person may not neccesarily write any code could be interpreted as can/does also write code. Am I correct in this presumption?
Yes, I agree with what you wrote. My guess is that I would fit in the Engineer category. Your carefully worded definition mentions this person may not neccesarily write any code could be interpreted as can/does also write code. Am I correct in this presumption?[/quote]
That is my outlook, yes[quote=376721:@Markus Winter]What about persons with expert knowledge that dabble with code to use that knowledge in an app?[/quote]
Retired
When I started, engineers were these techno priests in white jacket who were operating in the sacred confines on the place behind glasses where the Moloch digested punch cards and huge magnetic tapes reels.
Coders doesn’t exist anymore, they are a kind of translators of docs to code. Systems Analysts (or Architects) produces docs with formal content explaining what needs to be done and to pass to a “Coder”, to create that “project”, as a program or programs. We almost don’t see such person anymore. Nowadays we need to be a “do-it-all” engineer, so, as we produce docs, we write the code too, so Devs (most) and Engineers (deep knowledge, able to write “complex engines”) are the current usual ones. Architects can build large blueprints of complex tasks Engineers can produce (in a more formal environment). In a informal environment a “dev” can be a jack-of-all-trades, he plans an UI, write some engine, write some codes, build, test, etc. Most of you here are devs.
I’d more or less agree with Dave’s assessment, and I call myself a software engineer.
I have a bachelor’s in computer science, and have been handling all aspects of end-to-end development for just about every company I’ve started or worked for. Everything from dreaming up the software we want to create, setting up and maintaining all our infrastructure (bunch of linux boxen, colo stuff, cloud stuff) to creating the databases that drive our processes, writing the middleware that glues it all together all the way through to writing, maintaining, and supporting the end products that our users purchase.
Well I do not know what I am but I have designed applications custom to the need of the client from 0% to 100% includes DB, Reports and the final application with up to 30 simultaneous users in the application.
If you like what you do, the title does not matter, but it is good to enjoy the work you do.
I am an Engineer - but not in the sense you propose. I create hardware embedded microcontroller products. I create the firmware that runs those products. And, when needed, I create high level software to interface to, or analyze the data from, those products. So, in your context, I am probably a developer (since I know very little about the OS). But, in that embedded environment, however, I am both the hardware engineer AND the software engineer (which is much easier, there, since there is no OS to be concerned about). So, some of us may wear different “hats” at various times in various stages of the development process.
To brag a little; I’d need to hire 20 people to replace myself if I wanted a different person for each hat I wear.
I tend to go by jack of all trades.
Own and operate construction company with four crews. Estimating, sales, ordering, scheduling, book keeping, and payroll.
I own and operate a building supply store with seven employees. Book keeping, payroll, IT, various software development for in house use, including payroll software.
Design, code & sell software to automation the drawing of 3D buildings. (Working to develop a full fledged estimating solution).
Design, code, sell, install and support an ERP system that integrates with manufacturing equipment.
I don’t have any developers to help or even someone that can do something as simple as installing a printer.
I do lot of ‘multi-threading’. And even some things that aren’t thread safe, like debugging code while driving.
I have a bachelors in common cents No seriously I graduated from eighth grade when I was 13 and that is the extent of my formal education. The rest was learned in the school of hard knocks. Until 2.5 years ago the only programing I did was Excel VBA.
So in the end what really matters is what you accomplish, more than what your title is. But that’s just my opinion.
Stress comes from worrying about things you can’t change. Therefore I have no stress, because my wife does all my worrying for me.
[quote=376725:@Christian Schmitz]
I am an Software Architect.[/quote]
I personally don’t agree with your title here; for it is my understanding that an Architect designs things, but never builds. You sir make things with your bare hands (unless you’re one of those weird people who type while wearing gloves).
I recently decided that I am an “API Wrangler”, for most of what I do is corralling API to work in a fashion that I desire, while not making the machine fall over, sure there’s some designing, math and digital artwork creation.
I was going to say “API Cowboy”, but where I grew up Cowboy means someone who does a poor job.
