
Ask HN: Do you prefer “engineer” or “developer”? - crcl
To the people in software, do you prefer calling yourself (or others) a &quot;software engineer&quot; or &quot;software developer&quot;? Is there even a difference?<p>Assuming there&#x27;s no difference in meaning, what are the pros&#x2F;cons of the abbreviations (&quot;eng&quot; vs &quot;dev&quot;)? I&#x27;m asking because I&#x27;m building a developer tool and want to include one of the abbreviations in the domain name (e.g. &quot;eng-tool.com&quot; or &quot;dev-tool.com&quot;).
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interatx
It's not always a choice. I'm in currently Canada where the term "Engineer" is
protected
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_engineer#Canada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_engineer#Canada).
So I'm a developer here.

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bovermyer
To me, that's like asking if I prefer "scientist" or "artist," respectively.

I usually identify publicly as an engineer, but really, I'm a developer.
"Engineer" implies a greater degree of mathematical and theoretical
understanding and application than I possess.

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laveur
This really greately depends on the kind of work one does. Many people working
on websites prefer developer, while people working on mobile or desktop apps
prefer engineer. As someone that writes mobile apps for a living I greatly
prefer engineer. I don't simply develop an app I engineer it. I do greatly
think that the term developer also is looked down on in the industry by many.
We do a lot more then just "develop" an app. We engineer how everything goes
together, the tools to build it, the tools we use to write code. Also the
title engineering usually comes with time for many. You start off as a
developer, your job is mainly to write code based on another engineers design.
Eventually you get good enough to do the engineering bit yourself.

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sloaken
I know back in the day, the use of Engineer verses Developer was about 10%
pay...

To me: Programmer - works on a team, is handed assignments Developer - might
lead a team, but is resposible for the entire developement of a solution. On
really large project will be focused on one aspect (DB, web, etc) Engineer -
Coordinates multiple parts, ensure all phases of the SDLC are completed. Of
involved with PM. Has an engineering notebook.

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SamReidHughes
Software engineers use "dev tools" because they develop software. But also
because it's less awkward to pronounce than "eng tools."

I like a non-hoity-toity attitude towards what constitutes engineering so I
say go for engineering if it has a better ring.

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xenocratus
I think they're interchangeable but to me "engineer" sounds too formal so I'd
go with developer for myself (I actually studied electronic engineering and
didn't enjoy the hardware side, so I'm happy to stay away from the engineer
label!)

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rajacombinator
I consider them interchangeable but find it really annoying how they have very
subtle different connotations that are not universal. For me programmer >
developer > engineer but I wish there was a clear uniformly better option...

