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I was just offered my very first job, it's a new small to medium size company. It has a startup culture and very flexible. Graduated from a German Uni with a masters in CS. My offer is from a German company and in the contract it's written that the title is a Softwareentwickler or a software developer. However, I would like to write in my CV that my title is a software engineer.

My questions:

1- Is there any difference between those titles in Germany? Because I heard that it's the same thing.

2- What title would be nicer, fancier or recommended to have on a resume, a software engineer or a software developer? In Germany and the US in particular.

Edit: my question is with respect to Germany and not the US.

Edit 2:

from https://www.vde.com/de/Karriere/Beruf-und-Arbeitsmarkt/Seiten/RegulationoftheEngineeringProfessioninGermany.aspx I quote:

First of all, there is a protection to the professional title 'Ingenieur'='Engineer' by laws of German federal states which can only obtained by successful graduation in an engineering discipline or nat. science.

Well I have a bachelor in CS and M.Sc. in CS.

Jack Twain
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    Depends entirely on the company, and sometimes on exactly which management chain you're in. – keshlam May 29 '15 at 21:23
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    Very related - http://workplace.stackexchange.com/q/3347/2322 – enderland May 29 '15 at 21:24
  • If your current company hired you as a "software developer", but you later list that on your CV as "software engineer", then it could be seen as dishonest, even if the job responsibilities are identical. On your CV you put the actual title that you held. If the title is important to you you could try to negotiate with the company before accepting the offer. Small companies may be more flexible in this regard. – Brandin May 30 '15 at 07:58
  • If you revived the US component you could probably reopen this as not a duplicate as per my answer. –  May 30 '15 at 13:04
  • This question should be reopened. I wouldn't say it's the same thing - even if the same tasks are meaned in some positions. IMHO the difference in daily usage in Germany for these terms is as following: A software developer doesn't need to have an engineering degree (he could have one, but as likely he could have done a 3,5 years vocational training), software engineers on the other hand are always expected to have one. – s1lv3r May 30 '15 at 16:58
  • @s1lv3r but if you go through the jobs postings on monster.de for example, even jobs posted as Software Developers list that as a requirement they want the candidate to have a bachelor degree in CS or so. Note that Google gives an employee the title whether he has a bachelor in CS, master or a PhD or non at all. – Jack Twain May 30 '15 at 18:11
  • @JackTwain I think most job postings say degree or "relevant experience" (which most of the times is supposed to mean vocational training + working experience), but of course the employer is free to demand whatever he wants. I also didn't want to say for "Softwareentwickler" jobs there is never a degree needed, just that on the other hand for any job with the term Ingenieur there is always a degree needed! – s1lv3r May 31 '15 at 09:26
  • Unfortunetely I still can't post an answer, but to confuse you some more: You also have to remember that Ingenieur is the protected title and not engineer (the english translation has a slightly other meaning any way), so it matters in what language your CV is written! Here is a link to the relevant law. – s1lv3r May 31 '15 at 09:36
  • @s1lv3r not at all. See this posting: it says a degree or equivalent experience. http://stellenanzeige.monster.de/IT-Software-Ingenieur-w-m-im-Helpdesk-Job-Giebelstadt-Bayern-150410233.aspx?jobPosition=1 – Jack Twain May 31 '15 at 16:38
  • Ok, nice example - you are right in that one. You could apply to that position without a degree. The problem here is that employers can basically write anything they want into their job posts. In this case the employer tried to beef up their support/helpdesk job through including the word "engineer" in it, but that doesn't mean that you won't get into problems with calling yourself an engineer in your CV after working in that job. – s1lv3r May 31 '15 at 16:49

3 Answers3

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In Germany (and the rest of Europe) "Engineer" is a protected title, and unless your degree is that of a "Software Engineer" you could get in legal trouble.

Unless you have conclusive proof otherwise, stick to "Software Developer".

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For USA, I've read hundreds of engineering resumes:

  1. "Engineer" does sound better than "Developer" and that is the word that I've seen the most on resumes.

  2. For a random company to a random company, your title doesn't mean much to the hiring manager. A "software engineer" at one company doesn't translate much to another company. There is so much information and variability betweeen roles that isn't conveyed in the title. Anyone worth their salt is not going to care about the difference between developer vs engineer. Software engineers are not licensed professionals, so there is no legal standard to uphold.

Bowen
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Job titles are often vague. Here in the U.S., there's no hard and fast distinction between a "software developer" and a "software engineer". Personally I think "engineer" sounds more impressive and that's what I call myself when I want to be pretentious. Usually I just say I'm "a computer guy", though.

If the company has official titles, like if they give you business cards or a name plate or have some official form that says "Jack Twain ... software developer", then that's what I'd put on my resume in the future. I'd hate to have a future employer say, "Hey, you told us you were a software engineer with Foobar Company, but we called them and they said you were a mere software DEVELOPER. You lied on your resume!" I doubt most people would see a difference, but I wouldn't push it, just in case. But if it's a company where titles are more casual, you can call yourself pretty much whatever you want, as long as it's remotely plausible.

Jay
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