[jfinnery]

Working in software doesn't confer social status and never has. Money, maybe, but not status.

Lawyers' wages are badly depressed, supposedly, yet "I'm a lawyer" instantly confers better social status than "I'm a software developer" or even "I work at Google". Doctor, professor, those are jobs that come with a little or large bump in social status. "I'm a software developer" is like "I'm an accountant"—neutral at best.

[glimshe]

I'm a "computer scientist" does a bit better than "software engineer" if you want to sound smarter. The distinction doesn't matter for most people.