Job Titles
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Can anyone tell me the difference between a "analyst programmer" or "analyst developer" and a "programmer/developer"?
Thanks!
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Depends on the company. Job Titles are not very tightly coupled to the actual duties anymore. An analyst developer and analyst programmer would be the same in my mind, but it might not be to particular company.
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As Steve says, titles are just handy lables to hang on people however to my way of thinking there is a difference between a role that is described as analyst and one that is not.
Analyst/xxxxxx implies that the role is not a progamming drone role to my way of thinking. You get a spec but are allowed to question requirements.
Programmer/Developer suggests a role where a spec is received and the program developed to the spec, whatever that spec may be.
I would also suggest that the differences in job title become more pronounced in larger organisations.
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I agree with both above posts.
Its fair to say that as well as companies muddying the water by not being strict with job titles, that job applicants are just as likely to muddy the water. On a CV they may put their 1st job as a 'Junior Programmer'. 6 months later they'll deem themselves no longer junior, and so think of themselves as a programmer. 6 months after that they'll think of themselves as an analyst / programmer, again because it sounds better. I think that in general agencies and companies can see through these rather ambiguous job titles anyway, but so long as you can justify why you have added 'Analyst' to your standard Programmer / developer title I wouldn't worry about it.
In my experience 'developer' is a newer term (5-7 years or so) to programmer...
Andy,
Pembrokeshire UK
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There is the job title on you contract of employment and the job title you use on your CV
I could argue that my CV is a more accurate reflection of my actual role. Titles don't necessarily reflect seniority or experience.One point that a friend brought up was that employment agencies see salary and also change in salary as an indication of seniority. If you are an analyst program on £18K you are junior to an analyst programmer on £25K. Gods I hope that is true!
In my current position there is a difference between a programmer and a developer. For example, you can develop a web site using a content management system but this isn't necessarily quite the same thing as programming.
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Thanks for the great insights!
I always think the analyst role is more related to understanding the why's and hows where the programmer role is more involed with process. I think combining the two in db land is a really good idea but i haven't seen the title match anything close to the job desc. Usually it looks like they are looking for a upper level programmer - which "seems" different to me. (i know I know - titles dont mean much except as you say, you want better salary!)
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David.Poole said:
Analyst/xxxxxx implies that the role is not a progamming drone role to my way of thinking. You get a spec but are allowed to question requirements.
The analyst role can go beyond that: I'd expect to be at least refining, possibly developing the spec from a list of customer requirements. In some cases, you amy even be working with the customer do help them develop those requirements.
Of course, if you actually get to the point where you're going in, dragging the requirements out of the customer, developing the specification (including basic functional program navigation, defining screen contents (and possibly layouts), and detailing the plans for handling the trickier parts of the coding process, you're probably past the analyst role. I've seen more and more places define this sort of activity as an (data, program, system, application) architect role.
R David Francis -
Where I come from, a "business analyst" or "systems analyst" develops requirements (functional and/or system/technical) and/or design documents. They might also be involved in developing and executing test documents, especially if there is a skimpy QA staff. A programmer/analyst would generally do some of those tasks, as well as some programming. But as others have said, especially in a large company, the job title may have little correlation with the actual duties and responsibilities.
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