Developers versus Programmers

Posted in Links, Programming and Software Development, Technology by engtech on October 10, 2006

I really enjoyed this article that compares “programmers” and “developers”. I might not always agree with his classifications, but he does a good job of dividing programmers/developers into two sides of a fence in different scenarios while clearly identifying what the best behaviour is in the scenario.

I’m not sure who the original author is, as the hacknot site seems to be a collection of essays released as Creative Commons.

>> Developers are from Mars, Programmers are from Venus

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li9htwav3 said, on October 12, 2006 at 3:34 pm

After reading the article, i’m not quite sure which I am, a programmer or a developer, since I have one or the other characteristic at some point or another. It’s almost like deciding when to use java or php for a web project.
Brian said, on October 13, 2006 at 5:33 am

This guy makes a pretty convincing argument to be a programmer. Do what you want. Don’t care about your users. Indulge your self. Enjoy all the neat cool technologies.

[in a deep adult voice] Developers seem boring and all about work and never have any fun at all. That must suck.

Seriously though, I don’t think Im smart enough (or maybe Im lazy) to be a programmer. I hate complex problems and I hate having to code for every problem. I would rather teach a user how to get the same functionality out of Word/Excel/Sharepoint vs. actually coding a new program.
_Matt_ said, on October 18, 2006 at 6:58 pm

Pff. this is pretty silly, all developers “program”. We all started out programming, and we programme for a living. All programmers are developers, we have to program to “develop” applications. Rather than programmers being a different species, we are a superset of programmers. The only thing different is that developers see the application through from beginning to end.

I, and most other developers, have ample amounts of fun fiddling with new technologies thankyou. And a programmer who is not a developer in this day and age is probably still using punchcards.

matt
programmers vs biologists vs evolution (hello world) « //engtech said, on November 24, 2006 at 7:25 am

[…] I’ve talked about programmers vs developers, but what about programmers vs biologists? Bill Walker explains why there’s no cure for the common cold by comparing the biotech industry to the software industry. It may be funnier because I have a cold right now. […]
Michael Sync said, on March 24, 2007 at 10:39 am

Thanks for sharing