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I think that the difference between those is, the Software Engineer (SE) is capable of create and design further than follow instructions or a specific language, and programmer (P) is like coding only maybe one or two languages but with a limit view of the application/services etc.

I think are similar but I see a SE with more potential to develop things, a P too, but I think his scope is limited to what he/she knows, no go further.

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The question is really of role. What role does a star programmer play as opposed to a star software engineer. Ideally, a software engineer is supposed to bring in engineering qualities and therefore have a good idea of reliability, scalability, safety, error handling etc. A programmer on the other hand should ideally focus on getting the best of the platform/tools. So, I see an SE to be more broader but a P to have more depth.

I was thinking the opposite, I would've though a SE is more specialised in one field, but a P has broad knowledge and hence is more flexible in how he/she applies that knowledge in order to develop a specific piece of software required by a client.

Given the same skill level a P isn't a strict subset of SE, by that I mean an SE wouldn't be able to do a P's job efficient/effectively as they don't posses the required knowledge/skill... and vice versa.

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