I agree with you. During my career I worked for 3 companies and technically my job was always the same - software developer, including both design and implemen

I agree with you. During my career I worked for 3 companies and technically my job was always the same - software developer, including both design and implementation. But the overall situation was different because every company has different culture, software development processes, etc. Having been 10 years in this industry, I am not a young developer anymore, but if I would have to look for a new job now, I would focus on two points: 1) Whether the company has good software development processes and experts in software engineeering I can learn from, in other words if they know "how to do software". It looks obvious, but you would be shocked how haphazardly some companies develop their software. If you end up in such a company, your grow as a developer will be slower. 2) Good paycheck. I don't say this is most crucial, but it just feels better if you have a feeling to be appropriately rewarded, money wise. ;-)