[mildbow]

Meh.

I've never seen that work for actual software development, but I guess it depends on where you work/what sort of job you do.

I've seen it work for sdets though so who knows.

[falcolas]

Err, SDET _is_ a professional software developer. It's in the title!

Working in a non-development group doesn't somehow make you not a software developer.

[mildbow]

They aren't the same job, regardless for how similiar the titles are.

My point was the skills required in architecting a solution vs testing a given specific solution differ. So, while you can more easily fall/move into a automated testing role, it's harder to do so into a core programming job. The bar for moving into the latter, rightly or not, very much higher.