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by _bxg1 2287 days ago
Lately "software engineer" feels a bit pretentious to me, with all the articles about how we're co-opting the word "engineer". I've started using the word "programmer" just to avoid the pretention and because it has a nice old-school ring to it.

I kind of doubt employers read it as such a technical term that it would factor into the hiring process.
2 comments
arvinsim 2287 days ago
Engineer seems too pretentious. Programmer seems....low trade?

If so, why not just use developer?

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_bxg1 2287 days ago
> Programmer seems....low trade?

Does it though? Is there such thing as a low-trade programmer? Even at the very entry level the job postings say "Junior Software Engineer". Programmer, to me, just rings of the 80s/90s, when code was a little more gristly and our field didn't have quite such an inflated ego. It has a vintage charm.

"Software Developer" is... fine. It's accurate and descriptive, just very boring (and a bit verbose; "developer" without "software" could be ambiguous so you usually need to say both).

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arvinsim 2286 days ago
> Does it though? Is there such thing as a low-trade programmer?

I am not implying that programming is low trade.

It's just nowadays, some people's perception of that term is being a code monkey.

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kojeovo 2287 days ago
My HR friends say it matters to some. That engineer looks better
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