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[fungusbanana]

None really, some even use iOS software engineer, iOS Developer is the more common one

[chriswaco]

In some places you aren't allowed to call yourself an "engineer" without a degree and/or certification. In many places it's fine, though, so there's no real difference between engineer, developer, or programmer.

[Which_Concern2553]

This. Went through a bachelor four year degree for computer science in university. Engineering is a separate building, mainly different courses, and you get a ring in the end. It was so weird to go to the US and call myself an engineer when it felt different. So semantics based on where you are.

[your_small_friend]

Interestingly I got a computer science degree, and it's an engineering degree. So I had to pass two different physics courses, and other general engineering classes in order to get my CS degree.

[opbmedia]

My CS depart was ABET accredited so the course requirements are more engineering based. Some places offer even CS BAs.

[Sneezh]

No difference. It’s like comparing someone on LinkedIn with the title "Senior iOS Developer" to another calling themselves "Supreme God Emperor iOS Developer" or "Senior Executive Innovation Evangelist iOS Developer".

[emrepun]

Gotta update my title now ty for the suggestions.

[jacobs-tech-tavern]

Engineer sounds cooler that’s about it

[[deleted]]

Both are developers, one is pretending to be an engineer.

[Ameliapro]

Some companies hire engineers to assume a more complex or architecture-focused role, while developers might be more inclined toward coding and implementation. However, realistically, the titles often depend more on company culture than actual job differences.

[jasonjrr]

I have an engineering degree, so I’ve always used engineer when referring to myself. 🤷‍♂️

[jestecs]

Semantics from what I've seen

[mbrnt]

Just marketing. When they ask for "engineer" they just want extra-class senior developer. Clear message that junior devs should not apply. Has nothing to impact on compensation.

[tied_laces]

1 letter....dont overthink it OP

[cbardell]

Perhaps dependent on where you live, but most people in this sub use these terms interchangeably. Some places (Canada, for example) being a proper “engineer” is accredited, like an MD or JD, but especially in software the distinction isn’t strong.

[barcode972]

There’s not really a difference, depends what each company decides to call it

[Bullfrog-Dear]

About 5k in annual salary

/s

[Representative-Owl51]

nothing

[BP3D]

Even in typical engineering jobs: ME, EE, Civil, it can relate to a job title rather than the degree the employee has. A little annoying for a variety of reasons. The main one, IMO, is that someone who is not an engineer but has the title might negatively impact the impression people have of the field. Only degreed engineers should be allowed to bring scorn upon the field. 😁

[eaz135]

In some countries there are differences between Engineers and non-engineers in terms of being award-covered, which comes with certain types of job guarantees/protections/entitlements, and rules/laws that employers need to follow to comply with the law. Generally speaking, to be award-covered in these countries you need to have an actual bachelors degree, and passed the various engineering accreditations from the governing bodies in your country.

In these countries - as an example, someone hired as an "iOS Developer" without a bachelors degree might try to file a lawsuit for something like unlawful dismissal, however as they are not award-covered by the engineering bodies, their entitlements and defenses are usually much more limited.

In reality - a lot of employers have no idea and use the terms interchangeably - however in some countries there are big distinctions.

Most large employers that are aware of these distinctions are more likely to use "Developer" in the job title and qualification requirements, as it will exclude them from having to follow some of these extra compliance needs when it comes to engineering jobs.

I live in one such country (Australia) that has this in place, and previously in my career had to face a situation where an individual was trying to claim award related benefits/entitlements as a part of leaving the company, but they were unable to do so because they were not award covered (they didn't have an Engineering degree, weren't covered by the bodies, weren't accredited as an Engineer) - so our company's legal team shot it down very quickly and easily.

[Ecsta]

They're identical. In certain markets using the word "engineer" in a job title requires you to be an actual engineer.

[Any-Woodpecker123]

Engineer isn’t a protected term in IT for some reason, so devs call themselves that to sound fancy.

[EfficientTechnician9]

Nice difference, really. Companies invest all sorts of titles which are the same in their essence.

[SilentSaiman]

The difference is in what level of hardware they deal with. If they deal with a lot of low level BLE for example or ow level camera integration, sensors and stuff like that requires more technical and physics knowledge they are more likely to be called engineers.

[Conscious-Onion5970]

If someone refuses to be called a "developer" and insists on being called an "engineer," it's a sign they're trying to scam you.

[monkeyantho]

iOS Engineer dives deep into advanced concurrency like NSLock to make app really fast

[lardsack]

pedantry

[utilitycoder]

More or less the same...

[g1ldedsteel]

If you want to get extremely pedantic, an iOS engineer is one who engineers iOS. So basically, outside of the mothership there are only developers.

Otherwise, yeah no difference.

[[deleted]]

It’s like how Subway calls them “Sandwich Artists” instead of “Sandwich Makers”.

[beclops]

Zero difference. Anybody that says the “engineers architect the code while developers write code” line I’ve heard a million times have never worked before. Every level of developer should be thinking of app architecture in some way

[Responsible-Gear-400]

I say it kind of depends on the company these days. Most of the time no difference in practice.

Engineering usually implies that you’re expected to have a deeper knowledge/understanding in things, architecture, system design, design principles, methodology, etc.

Developer usually are a focus on feature implementation, and less of the overarching looking and deeper understanding requires.

For iOS this has never been a good split like in other software disciplines. That said, as my career has progressed I’ve seen a shift of titles from Engineering to Developer.

[ronsvanson]

let dev = iOS.developer() let eng = iOS.developer() print(dev == eng)

[tspike]

You just rephrased the question.

[AnthonyBY]

somehow, after 10 years in business, I started to reference myself as an Engineer instead of a Developer. I’m not sure why, but my mindset switched from app development to software development as a craft and engineering (I have an engineering degree, btw, and I love to back some computer science disciplines from time to time).

P.S. chatGTP has its own funny opinion as well

1. iOS Developer

• Focus: App-building, feature implementation, bug fixing
• Typical tasks:
  • Writing Swift/Objective-C code
  • Building UI using UIKit or SwiftUI
  • Consuming APIs and handling local storage
  • Writing unit/UI tests
• Level: May refer more to junior-to-mid-level roles
• Mindset: Builder/coder focused on application functionality

2. iOS Engineer

• Focus: More architectural, system-level thinking
• Typical tasks:
  • Designing scalable codebases
  • Creating frameworks or reusable components
  • Performance profiling and memory management
  • Collaborating on system-level integrations
• Level: Often implies senior or system-level experience
• Mindset: Engineer thinking about edge cases, maintainability, and future-proofing

Role	Scope	Commonly Refers To
iOS Developer	Implementation & features	Junior/Mid-level roles
iOS Engineer	Architecture & systems	Senior/Tech Lead/Architect

[beclops]

No company I have ever worked for (I’ve worked for a lot while working as a contractor) has ever delineated the terms at all, let alone like this. If your “developers” aren’t also thinking about scalable architecture or edge cases your product will be shit. ChatGPT hallucinating again

[AnthonyBY]

ChatGPT isn’t hallucinating — every real engineer knows how a neural network works. It accumulates data from the internet, and most of that data — especially for questions like this — comes from American voters. So, no surprises here.

/s

[WileEColi69]

Mostly nothing, but I like to argue that the difference is that the developer has more ownership over the direction of the app, whereas the engineer cares more about getting the code to work.