I think they're more or less interchangeable at that level. One might think of an engineer as someone who designs an application / product, but offhand I canno

I think they're more or less interchangeable at that level. One might think of an engineer as someone who designs an application / product, but offhand I cannot think of any methodologies that explicitly have someone "design" a system without building at least some of it with the exception of business owners / analysts. On the flipside, my current job title is "programmer," yet often I am involved in fully designing AND developing the piece of the program I am currently working on - that literally covers from business rules to support, including relevant documentation. I would consider developers to be in the same bucket as a programmer, as (in my head at least) there are far more similarities between the two than from developer to engineer. Ideally I would expect the following assignments: Engineer: High level of expertise, designs system at a very granular / technical level for: Developer: The person(s) who builds the specified system, but whose role is mostly overseeing the build process. Also high level of expertise, something of a managerial role, but also knowledge library for use by: Programmer: Person(s) who build the system. Relevant documentation can be delegated to the developer possibly, depending on actual involvement. The feedback channel would just reverse this order. Programmer -> Developer -> Engineer. Also before anyone gets all crazy about it, this is completely off-the-cuff based on my experience in school / the industry.