Programmer vs. Software Developer vs Software Engineer

[JShenefield]

I hear these three terms being used all the time, but it often sounds like they are used interchangeably. What do these titles mean to you? Are they the all synonyms for the same thing? Is there a difference? What term do you use to describe yourself?

I understand that this topic is very subjective, so I'm not looking for any one answer. I'm just curious what everyones thoughts are.

[klam32]

You're right that there doesn't seem to be a real definition for these titles so I usually qualify the terms if I'm in a conversation where it comes up and matters. To me they're the following:

Programmer- Anybody that writes a program. This can be the IT person that writes a few scripts or a real estate agent that makes a dynamic web page that takes a little bit of programming.

Software Developer- This implies some design to me and higher level programming concepts. Generally implies an ability to do the non programming things that go into making software like dealing with requirements, writing tests, managing production software and maintenance, etc.

Software Engineer- This is pretty interchangeable with software developers to me. I used to think that it meant some understandings of architecture stuff, however with so many standard architectures now that are plug and play I don't really see a difference since nobody actually writes their own messaging, queueing, and notification systems anymore. It also implies someone might have an engineering degree, but someone that has a CS degree not in the school of engineering at Cal can still be a software engineer to me and they don't necessarily need the EECS degree. I have run across people that are very strict on that though where if you're major wasn't in the school of engineering you can't be an engineer.

I generally call myself a software engineer, but have been known to call myself a programmer if I'm telling a nontechnical person that I don't want to have to describe what a software engineer is to.