Differences Between Software Developers and Software Engineers Software development and engineering roles overlap, and in many cases the only difference lies in the job title.

In the field of software development, “coding vs. programming” is an often encountered point of misunderstanding. Despite their frequent interchangeability, the words contain subtle distinctions.

In a traditional undergraduate computer science program you learn just programming. But the real world doesn't want people who are just programmers. The real world wants real software engineers.