Is there any difference between "coder", "programmer", and "engineer"?
Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
These three terms may be rather confusing, as there is some overlap between the three. In the software industry, "coders," "programmers," and "engineers" all work with code. However, their roles are a little different. Coders generally only write in one coding language and can be considered "beginners" to coding. They are sometimes called "junior programmers/developers." Programmers (also sometimes called developers) also code, but are more experienced and usually involved with entire projects, from start to finish. Engineers are the most expert coders and work to design, finalize, and fine-tune all aspects of an application or project. You can think of the career progression as coder (junior developer/programmer) > programmer/developer > software engineer. Ex: I have a friend who works as a software engineer in Silicon Valley. She usually works on optimizing applications for end-users. Ex: I just started my career as a coder. I can be considered a newbie.
