What is the difference between 開発者 & 技術者?


Using Google Translate I found the literal meaning of 開発者 to be "Developer"
and 技術者 to be "Engineer", but in daily conversations within my company they
seem to be interchangeable.

Example:

> Person A: その人も開発者なの?  
>  Person B: いちおう技術者だと思うよ。

Is there a difference or are they interchangeable? How exactly would you
define them?




開発者 refers to people who make new products (e.g., by programming). 技術者 refers
to not only developers but also engineers who do not create new products.
These include operating engineers, testing engineers, infrastructure engineers
and so on. Therefore, 開発者 is a subset of 技術者.

That said, in many smaller companies, there may not be full-time testing
engineers and so on. In that case, all 技術者 in a company can be also 開発者.




開発者 refers to people who make new products (e.g., by programming). 技術者 refers
to not only developers but also engineers who do not create new products.
These include operating engineers, testing engineers, infrastructure engineers
and so on. Therefore, 開発者 is a subset of 技術者.

That said, in many smaller companies, there may not be full-time testing
engineers and so on. In that case, all 技術者 in a company can be also 開発者.

