Hello and welcome to the Continuous Delivery Podcast. Today we’re diving into Dave Farley’s take on a question every team grapples with: what’s the real difference between a coder, a developer, and a software engineer?

Farley starts by unpacking the coder. “A coder writes code,” he says, and that’s it. They take a specification, translate it into syntax, and move on. The developer steps up a notch: they not only write code, they own features, collaborate with teammates, and consider user needs along the way. As Dave puts it, “A developer builds a solution, not just lines of code.”

And then there’s the software engineer. Farley argues that engineers bring an end-to-end mindset. “They design systems with resilience, scalability, and maintenance in mind,” he explains. Engineers think in terms of boundaries, trade-offs, and long-term health. They establish standards, automate delivery pipelines, and take responsibility for operability in production.

So whether you identify as a coder, developer, or engineer, Farley reminds us that it’s all about mindset, ownership, and the scope of responsibility. That’s it for today’s episode—thanks for listening!
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