Well, I guess so, as I do write code on a regular basis. But again no, because part of me thinks "programmer" should describe someone whose job it is to produce

Well, I guess so, as I do write code on a regular basis. But again no, because part of me thinks "programmer" should describe someone whose job it is to produce software, and my code is not the purpose of my work. I'm a scientist: my job is to translate experimental data into meaningful statements about the systems I study. It just so happens that this requires a lot of new software! :) Which makes me wonder how many HNers who code are what might be described as "professional software developers"? And how many write code, but only because they need to in order to accomplish the rest of their job? (this might also be a poor framing of the question, but I don't have a better one in my head right now)