An interesting post. I sometimes describe myself as a programmer if someone asks me what I do. I don't do that because I want to be thought of as a sun-deprived subterranean creature. Sometimes when I say it I think about the movie Woodstock when they introduced Max Yasgur and he pipes up, "I'm a farmer." Probably I just lost half the readers here!

I want is to be thought of as someone who creates things that people use to do their work. As the author points out, it involves constant problem-solving, analytic thinking and communication, even negotiation, with humans. In my way of thinking it means I have to understand their work, how they do and why they do it so I can formulate solutions that work from beginning to end.

I have run into so many system architects, data/database designers, business analysts -- perfectly nice people -- who sit around in meetings, toiling over complicated diagrams, wearing out white boards spinning dreams of data at users fingertips. Sadly, and this may say more about where I work than I should, if anything besides reams of paper ever comes from it, it's unusual. If that's what fancy job titles are I don't want them!