HR and recruiters can be a hinderence, but you wouldn't know it if they were. If they're out looking for a specific person you're either going to fit their mold or not. As far as that goes just post to Dice.com or something your general resume, but then tailor it to each job you specificially apply for. So if you're applying to be an Objective-C developer and have built mostly Java applications but also collaborated on an iOS app you should mention the Java, but really detail your involvement with the iOS app. That's how you're going to get past recruiters and HR: by being what they want to hear as much as possible. Once you're past the HR dept and are interviewing with the team you'll actually be joining then all that stuff doesn't matter any more.

I think "engineer" has been attached to me at least once or twice but I hardly pay attention to that, not to sound snooty. I know when I went to a conference last January my title on my lamanent was "Secure Software Engineer" but at the same time my business card said "Secure Development Consultant" and LinkedIn said "Development Team Lead"....but that was right after the company I worked for merged with a larger company that to that point had no development team at all so they didn't know what to do with us. Prior to the merger, and I swear this is true, my official title at the small company was "Viceroy of These Jams". One awesome part of working for a small company is that things tend to be less formal ;-)

I do not consider myself an engineer exactly because I am so scattered in my experience. I think to be an engineer you should be well versed in the whole of computer science which I, personally, am not. Kevin and Bryan fit that mold though, they're overall bad-asses. I'm just good with server administration, PHP, SQL, and various other things I've learned for a specific thing. I'm the worst educated developer you'll ever meet in that way. I'm a mutt of a developer.

If Ohio is hard for jobs check things like oDesk. oDesk'll let you freelance and gain some experience and some coin while you look for a full time job. DON'T SUCCUMB TO THE GEEK SQUAD. We are as far beyond them as they are beyond mortal men...no offense to them. I love 'em, but dev and network admin are different disciplines and skill sets.

This is a cool subject you bring up. I think you are going to get a very bias answer from the WiBit.Net crew because we are quite jaded about formal education in computer science. We are very dissatisfied with how colleges treat the subject. That is the reason WiBit.Net exists in the first place. I know some guys that have multiple college degrees and can’t write a Hello World program. In this field, thankfully, it is what you know and your experience that takes precedence. Some of the most talented developers I know don’t even have a bachelor’s degree.

As far as the word “Engineering” is concerned… I believe the formal study for this discipline is Computer Science. Some schools may use the term Engineer as a sales pitch, but it is very likely the same thing. From my experience, the only time this term differentiates is in the context of electronics and hardware (often called Computer or Electrical Engineering). In the professional field you are often called engineer by title or role. For computer programming, it usually ranks as Programmer (entry level), Developer (lower mid level), Engineer (upper mid level), and Architect (upper level). I am a certified architect, but my formal degree is “Computer Science”. No engineering, no architecting. I think that Jason and Bryan are engineers by title but with no engineering degrees per say. None of us have a degree that states Engineering but we all maintain that status professionally.

The best advice when choosing a college for software development is to consider the curriculum. Read the course overviews and see if it interests you. Don’t go for the degree with the sexiest sounding name. Trust me, when you look through job postings you will more often than not see a “Computer Science” degree is required. You will never see a job posting looking for a “Computer Engineer Scientist Astronaut Super Hero” degree. You may get passed the HR screenings with a fancy sounding degree, but once your resume gets to the technical savvy folks it will be seen right through. I know this because I have been on the other side of the interview table a quite few times.

My fellow WiBit.Net colleagues may disagree with me, but also take a look at the colleges ranking in the major you’re choosing. A Computer Science degree can sell you better from MIT compared to Jim’s Super Awesome College of Computer Scientists.

Despite my advice, none of us went to a highly ranked Computer Science university but we are all doing quite well. Oddly enough, I was accepted to a ranked technology school, but chose a different one because I wanted to be closer to the girl I was dating at the time. Ha ha ha! As stupid of a decision as that was, it ended up working out great for me.
I want to stress hard that the reason for our success is not our college education. We walked into college already knowing everything they taught us. None of us entered college with dreams of being a rich computer programmer. We walked in as total geeks studying the subject that we love and are passionate about. I wrote my first BASIC program when I was 8 years old, and I haven’t stopped since then.

I am lucky that I walk into work every day and think to myself, “I can’t believe they pay me to do this.” We followed our hearts and it paid off… At least so far.

Hard work, determination, and obsessive compulsiveness will get you farther than any degree ever will. But, get the piece of paper just in case!

Good luck!

In general terms, I do not disagree with any of the comments from the WiBit team, because all 3 have been working in the field and relate to their own life experiences.  My formal degrees are a BA in Biology and MS eCommerce. My career has been within sales and marketing in the healthcare industry and what specific degree I have, was not the driving factor for promotions, salary, etc. Careers are built by personal performance.

Having said that, I think the following definitions are closer to real word differentiation of the engineer vs programmer positions and may help in your decision.

“Computer software engineers design and develop software. They apply the theories and principles of computer science and mathematical analysis to create, test, and evaluate the software applications and systems that make computers work. The tasks performed by these workers evolve quickly, reflecting changes in technology and new areas of specialization, as well as the changing practices of employers. “

“Computer programmers write programs. After computer software engineers and systems analysts design software programs, the programmer converts that design into a logical series of instructions that the computer can follow (A section on computer systems analysts appears elsewhere in the Handbook.). The programmer codes these instructions in any of a number of programming languages, depending on the need. The most common languages are C++ and Python.”

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos303.htm

Having worked within 2 large multi-national organizations that hire both positions, my experience tells me there is a bias that engineer degrees are held in higher regard, better initial salary, etc. However, this can be quickly overcome with personal performance and contributions to the tasks at hand, within that specific organization. Move to another and the degree may define your worth to that specific organization. Good luck with your decision!

As far as I know, a computer science or similar degree certainly isn't required to work as a software developer. It might say so in job ads, but there aren't really enough CS graduates to fill all the positions advertised. Also, most positions (I've seen estimates as high as 80%) are filled way before an employer gets desperate enough to go on craigslist or monster.

There's another forum that I'm a member of where there are a large number of software programmers and designers. One guy never went to college at all, but now typically makes over 90k per year. He's certainly not a genius. He started as a programmer by working for a software company in another role, and then he proved to them that he was competent. Another guy went to college but studied music and physics. He pursued a PhD in physics for awhile before dropping out. He's more of a lead designer now and makes closer to 150k. Most of the others majored in psychology, but that's not surprising considering that almost everyone majors in psychology. The ones who majored in engineering, math, or some kind of hard science seem to enjoy the most overall success. Physics and math majors in particular seem to do well, but that's probably because they tend to be really smart.

Also, software development isn't all about design principles, programming, and computers in general. There's also the subject matter of the software (assuming that you're not working on frameworks, platforms, etc - anything where the subject matter is other software, the computer, the network, whatever). You could potentially major in anything - let's say geology - learn how to write software, and then move into that field as a software developer. Of course, if you went this route with, say, art history, then it would be much harder and more research oriented (software than can recognize forgery, etc).