developer
nounUK /dɪˈvɛləpə(ɹ)/ · US /dɪˈvɛləpɚ/
Etymology From develop + -er.
1
A person or entity engaged in the creation or improvement of certain classes of products.
2
A real estate developer; a person or company who prepares a parcel of land for sale, or creates structures on that land.
- Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “After Fukushima, Japan beginning to see the light in solar energy”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30:
- [Donald Trump] would repeat this point three more times over the course of several hours, as if pleading with his counterparties to see fiscal reason. (Religious fanatics, alas, do not always respond to the same incentives as New York developers.)2026 April 23, Jonathan Chait, “The Posting Will Continue Until Morale Improves”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC:
3
A film developer; a person who uses chemicals to create photographs from photograph negatives.
4
A liquid used in the chemical processing of traditional photos.
5
Business, Dyeing, Manufacturing, Textiles A reagent used to produce an ingrain color by its action upon some substance on the fiber.
6
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences A software developer; a person or company who creates or modifies computer software.
- More important, when we looked at who worked in that industry, we noticed that programmers were in the minority. They’re dwarfed by, among other occupations, the software developers. The two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but the jobs follow very different trajectories. Nationwide, software developers haven’t struggled nearly as much as their programming brethren — few other computer-related occupations have. So what makes programmers different? To answer that, we need to dive forehead first into everybody’s favorite part of any analysis: arcane occupation definitions! Upon perusing the fine print, we saw that while programmers do in fact program, they “work from specifications drawn up by software and web developers or other individuals.” That seems like a clue. In the real world, “developer” and “programmer” can seem almost interchangeable. But in the world of government statistics, where we have legal permanent residency, there’s a clear distinction. In the [US] government’s schema, programmers do the grunt work while the much more numerous — and much faster-growing — software developers enjoy a broader remit. They figure out what clients need, design solutions and work with folks such as programmers and hardware engineers to implement them. Their pay reflects this gap in responsibilities. The median programmer earned $99,700 in 2023, compared with $132,270 for the median developer. And while 27.5 percent of programming jobs vanished, jobs for developers have only fallen 0.3 percent, similar to the broader industry.2025 March 14, Andrew Van Dam, “Department of Data: More than a quarter of computer-programming jobs just vanished. What happened? Learning to code was supposedly the salvation of millions of liberal art majors. But now programming jobs are plummeting. The Post’s Department of Data tries to figure out what’s going on”, in Washington Post:
- Derived terms
- 10x developer, codeveloper, developer exit, developer experience, developer program, megadeveloper, predeveloper, web developer
- Related terms
- develop, development, developmental