Possible Duplicate: What are the key differences between software engineers and programmers? What's the difference between computer science and programming? Whats the difference between a Software Architect, a Software Engineer, and a Software Developer (Programmer)? What is the actual difference between Computer Programmers and Software Engineers? Is this description accurate? What's the difference between computer science and programming? I want to know the difference between a programmer, a software engineer and a computer scientist. I'm new to the scene and I don't want to step on anybody's toes. I once gloated to a programmer that I was learning MS Access. Boy, was that a mistake. But when my father in law contracted some of his work out to software engineers their code was junk. In the world of software development, who goes by what title? Does it matter?