Whats in a title? 

Currently, I am employed as a Technical Developer, yet I write code for websites.  My previous position was an Application Developer, yet essentially (to a non geek) I did simillar work and wrote code for websites.  At the time I left my last job there were discussions over bringing job titles more 'inline'  and proposals that we all became rebranded as Software Engineers overnight.  Oh yeah, everything else stayed the same. We still wrote code for websites.

For many years I used to call myself a Web Developer.  That's how I thought of myself. Yet each time I said it to anyone, I actually disliked hearing it.  In my own mind it conjured up images of guys in T-shirts on surf boards surfing all day, then coding frantically like a mouse with its tail on fire all night, only to spend the next day surfing.  To me, it didn't sound like a profession that I wanted to be proud of - partly because there are so many badly designed and poorly functional websites around.

I also steered clear of Programmer.  This, to me, sounds like guys in specs, writing hundreds of lines of byte-code, that do mundade tasks in microseconds..  Again, that didn't sound like me.

One thing I do know is that I am not a designer.  I am actually more of a copy-and-manipulator, but that doesn't look or sound good on a business card or mortgage application.

So currently, I am in any number of professional areas depending on how much I think you will understand or care.  If I think that you will know the difference, then I am a Web Application Developer;  if I think that you just want to put me in a box, then I am a Computer Programmer (thats the closest on those automated Insurance websites); and if you really dont care and I cant be arsed explaining, then I am a Software Engineer.

So, whats in a title?  A first impression - thats all.