[djinn]

I just think the debate about identifying oneself "as", like pointed by other comments, is specific to a cultural context. In India specifically "programming" is as much about sector of work like "Information Technology" as it would be individuals profession. So most of the time "programmer" or "software engineer" inter-changeably explains the where one works for someone outside the profession. In case the person shows further interest, one could go further into what exactly is the span of work. So unlike Patrick's essay tries to convey, "programmer" per se is not a restrictive definition.