Difference between programmer and software engineer

Graduated as a computer science degree holder, I sometimes have the difficulty explaining my job scope to others. It's not their problem to not know what I do, it's mine. 

When I mention to my friends who weren't from this field, that I'm a software engineer, they relate me to, well, engineers. Sadly, I'm not. I'm far from being an engineer, I do not get the I.R status no matter how many books I read or write. To be simple, I often tell them I'm a programmer. 

The fact that I know I'm not just a programmer but I don't know how to explain what I do because I don't know better. 

Today, going for my language class, I came across this dilemma again. I don't know how to say my occupation in the class. I'm tempted to just name it "Programmer" again. But this time, I didn't. In fact, I stick to "Software Engineer" no matter how difficult it is to pronounce it and I was ready to explain what my job does. 

See, being a "Programmer" and "Software Engineer" is different. Anyone can code. Anyone can be a programmer. As long as you have the technical skills. A software engineer requires more than that. You need to know how to take and intepret requirements from stakeholder. You'll need to understand the process to develop a solution that fulfils their needs. A good software engineer needs to understand the in and out of the solution  and consequences of the development processes. A software engineer would apply the software development lifecycle to appropriate project based on stakeholder's needs so that each process is thoroughly weigh through.

Now, I realize people are starting to know what is software engineering. I'm glad that my teacher did not relate me to any Engineering field, but she knows that I'm dealing with the ICT industry at least. 

So I'll proudly say that I am a software engineer when people ask me about it and I will be prepared to explain it because I know my job better now. 

Scam on LinkedIn

You know it sounds too good to be true when a Head of Business Operations of a well known bank adds you on social network and messages you that she/he needed help FROM YOU!

I mean, if you're not a well known person, why would they want to look for you anyway. Of course, a scam.

I've said in my previous post before about scams like this. They usually prey on victim that are not aware of such scams, victim that doesn't doubt things that falls in the category of "too good to be true". Really, people, you got to be aware of this ! Don't be their prey. Do your research before you trust (you really shouldn't trust strangers) them.

Here's what I got from LinkedIn today.

I've accepted connection request from a person named Lisa Sang, claiming to be Head of Business Operations from Standard Charted Bank in Hong Kong. Nothing seems to be wrong so far. After all, there are head hunters randomly adding people in LinkedIn.

Later that afternoon, I got a message from Lisa Sang. Here's how the message goes:

If you can't see the image, here's the message:

"Dear friend, (I'm not your friend)

Thank you for accepting my connection.

I bring you greetings from Hong Kong. (Up until here I feel great. 'Wow, from Hong Kong. That's international!')

I am Ms. Lisa Sang, Head of Business Operations(Private Banking Services) at the Standard Charted Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd.. (Wow, someone with high position messaged me! )

I need a foreign partner that I can trust, can I trust you? Kindly contact me on my email: lisasang12@gmail.com for more info.

I have a proposal for you.

I hope to hear from you soon.

God bless you.

Regards,
Lisa "

Doesn't it sounds fishy that a head of business operations from HK, uses personal Gmail for contact? Definitely this is not an official business.

A little google search (before I could even finish up my search keyword) "lisa sang ..." - "Lisa Sang standard charted" pops up as suggestion and it's in a website that reveals about scams. Well, that just means I'm not the only one.

I'll hotlink the link here: http://1sc.org/e-mail-scams/inheritance-scam/

Look at the trends from the replies. It seems that this person have multiple identity with same story. Be it Lisa Liang or Lisa Sang, this Lisa definitely up to no good. BE WARNED.

It has arrived!

HOHOHO.. My parcel has arrived!!

My noodle has arrived! *Noodle? Parcel?*  Yes! It's none other than 불닭볶음면! Spicy fire noodle! Or let me translate literally with my noob korean understanding. Fire Chicken Fried Noodle! 

Yes, you're suppose to eat it dry, though not literally fried. 

I can't wait to try them out. But, I wanna try it with my daredevil spicy-lover-though-can't-really-eat-spicy, my fiancé. So I'll wait for my chance. Let's see when will I have the chance. Huhus. *hint hint*

                     

Bridezilla-O-Meter

Hey there, some of you might have known, I'm getting married soon. Never would I thought this day would actually come and I'm glad that I have found the one to walk with me for the rest of the journey of my life.

I've always thought that being bridezilla (Used to describe a woman whose behavior becomes outrageously bad in the course of planning for her wedding.) is so overrated. That is as if you want to have a perfect dream wedding and you want to control every event that will occur on the wedding day and I guess you would turn into one.

I might be getting there though. But I guess with all the helps from my friends and the advises I got, the meter wouldn't be able to achieve it. It may be too soon for me to say now though but at least I am hopeful that it wouldn't turn out bad.

All I want is just a simple wedding that looks good and at the end of the day, I'm happily married to my husband-to-be and I'm debt free. So I wouldn't advise anyone to do personal loans for their wedding. If you can't afford it, don't make it big. Simple one is good enough. Wedding is just between you and your spouse. Wedding ceremony is just an announcement that you're married and introduction to friends and relatives.

Just in case anyone is interested, we've also write up our journal on some guidelines for the wedding. It's written by both Jon and I (I wrote most of the time though. Pfft)