Back in an earlier era of computing, there was a strict hierarchy of jobs:

An analyst took business requirements and wrote specifications.

A programmer took those specifications and created flowcharts of the program logic.

A coder took the flowcharts and translated them into code on a coding form.

A keypunch operator punched the code onto cards, line by line, card by card.

So "coder" was a rather low status job, just one rung above being a typist.