When did Programmers become Developers?
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So I've thought about this for a little bit today I quite like using the term Developer, its generic yet says exactly what we do, Develop stuff. Though is there really any difference to programmers and is the term programmer obselete in the modern world? I remember reading this article Don't Call Yourself A Programmer, And Other Career Advice. So my question is, what should it be, developer, programmer and which do you prefer?
Simon Lee Shugar (Software Developer) www.simonshugar.co.uk "You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everybody dances with the grim reaper" - Robert Alton Harris
http://www.yosefk.com/blog/do-call-yourself-a-programmer-and-other-career-advice.html[^] An alternate view to "Don't call yourself a programmer" so far it seems 50/50 to me after reading all of the posts here.
Simon Lee Shugar (Software Developer) www.simonshugar.co.uk "You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everybody dances with the grim reaper" - Robert Alton Harris
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Nah, I think we should stick with "colourists" and "stylists". Not much chance of egos getting too big, then.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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So I've thought about this for a little bit today I quite like using the term Developer, its generic yet says exactly what we do, Develop stuff. Though is there really any difference to programmers and is the term programmer obselete in the modern world? I remember reading this article Don't Call Yourself A Programmer, And Other Career Advice. So my question is, what should it be, developer, programmer and which do you prefer?
Simon Lee Shugar (Software Developer) www.simonshugar.co.uk "You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everybody dances with the grim reaper" - Robert Alton Harris
I think both are interchangeable and mean pretty much the same thing, both can cover the same multitude of the sins. I would say the difference is that 'computer programmer' was a term which was must more common in the 80's and early nineties, a time when computer fluency was much less common, As such had a lot of negative connotations, images of spectacled geeks sitting in the computer room during their lunchtimes playing on their php while the cool kids played sports in the playground. 'Software Developer' I'd say came into vogue more during the late 90's and 2000's, around the same time that the Internet started to take off. A time when those 'geeks' where becoming billionaires (on paper anyway). And I think this has continued through to today, especially when everyone is fairly computer literate nowadays and becoming a developer is seen as a valid path to stability, success and riches, Basically I'd say they're the same thing. But girls take 'developers' to their high school prom (metaphorically), whereas as popular girls definitely don't date 'programmers' :-)
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So I've thought about this for a little bit today I quite like using the term Developer, its generic yet says exactly what we do, Develop stuff. Though is there really any difference to programmers and is the term programmer obselete in the modern world? I remember reading this article Don't Call Yourself A Programmer, And Other Career Advice. So my question is, what should it be, developer, programmer and which do you prefer?
Simon Lee Shugar (Software Developer) www.simonshugar.co.uk "You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everybody dances with the grim reaper" - Robert Alton Harris
Probably about the same time that Janitors became Custodial Technicians (or maybe that was when Programmers became Software Engineers). It is really just a fancier term that means about the same thing. Of course mileage will vary, depending on what each term means to each person/organization. :wtf: What? Not confused enough? Ohh.. you wanted the Answers office. This is Extra Confusion. You want room 12A. -- Variation of a Monty Python sketch.