Developer vs Programmer : Which one are you? 5 things to know.

This one is the most revered one. And I am sure once you read the title, you start thinking as to how do you define yourself? You started by first making a decision and then seconding your decision with various reasons as to why you arrived at your decision. Sometimes you are trying to justify more than reason in your head. Well human nature, ain't it!

My approach is probably the easiest one out and impacts me in my decision making. So when do you know you are one among them:

1. You talk business English: The biggest problem I have seen in the flow in a model where business has to interact to the IT side is the ''communication". A programmer might end up using the fancy tech jargon's whereas a developer might talk English(or any preferred medium of instruction) i.e. make business sense out of the terms so as to be understandable by non-IT and relate it so. 

2. Think in terms of sustainability: People can disagree over this one but its a clear indicator. While a programmer thinks too much in terms of prowess in achieving the better state of art architecture design, optimization and so many other technicalities, a developer thinks how the business can benefit, cost benefits, sustainability in terms of marketplace, drivers to grow in market etc. 

3. Work in Team models: A developer is more successful in agile, team models. More driven to collaborative and reciprocative cultures and also drive the same in the organisation. A programmer is more inclined to work in a shell, more focused, delivers more standalone or likes to think it is the case. Whereas this fact can not entirely be ruled out that a good programmer cannot work in team models - it's also dependent on individual capabilities of the engineer but extreme programmer do tend to show these signs.

4. Translation from Business to Technology: A Developer will always think in terms of deriving business or a market of the product which might be true for programmer but the gradual translation of life cycle of thought is vice versa. While a developer think of business idea, translates it up side down from business to technology, a programmer think first about creating a cool product from tech perspective and then translates to business. Most of the tech legends in the industry have seen a transformation in both roles. Look at the founders of Google, Facebook and other companies - where people associated have realized the value of both roles and need to be in one of the shoes depending on their personal capabilities and drive.

5. Passion gets better of you: An extreme programmer, having so much love for the tech shows signs of withdrawal into a shell to achieve focus, also gets aggressive in terms where in discussions, he perceives himself right technically and trusts his knowledge. A developer however thinks and acts a bit different in terms of above 5 factors and hires a good programmer to achieve the other factors or works in collaboration with one to achieve the idea.

There will always be a clear discussion as to what you are, what you want to be? But both have their own niche's and weights. I like to think I am a developer but everyone has his own journey and perception, so share your's.