Knowing How to Write Code != Developer

I have had this conversation a few times in the past week or two. A person who knows how to write code isn't alway a developer. I would say far from it. Few people are actually developers instead of code monkeys. Am I a developer? Hmmm... I might have been in a past life, now I am just a confused geek. In the security circles I seem to have this conversation more since they say they know development when in reality they just know how to write code. Don't get me wrong there are people in all areas that do know development, but from my scant exposure I would say they are in the minority.

Before I continue this post let me define what I think a developer is. A developer to me is a programmer who writes code but keeps the following things in his mind while coding: maintainability, how to minimize the amount of code he writes, good comments, clear interactions, clean interfaces, how the code will manifest the business decisions, when he is just gold-plating the product instead of getting what is needed done, not trying to do premature optimization because he knows that it is foolish, how the customer will use the product and of course how the source could be attacked or broken (on purpose or not). To me a developer is not just a code-slinger but someone who has a mix of skills from tester, project manager, programming, business analyst and most importantly an interpreter between humans and computers.

This is far different than someone who can just write a program and get it to run :). Now I might be full of shit (more than likely) but this is how I view the difference. The code-slingers might say they can do this, which is true it is stuff that can be done it isn't rocket science no part of IT is. As, I have said about technology the hardest part is the human factor of IT. Technologies can be learned easily but humans are confusing as all hell :).

To finish off this post my main point is that I think developers have a unique set of skills and should be highly valued. However, I don't think many people have the same definition as I do. I do know some do but not everyone. I do wish that companies would realize the difference between the skill sets in some programmers/developers to give them the rewards that justify their work and skills they have learned.