Hi, what is programmer job or tasks? is it only programming, or it includes software testing,windows installer, network management, helpdesk, documentation???
AS I am a graduate developer, I feel like I am doing everything, from upgrading hardware, installing antivirus, ...everything.... and of course coding...
thanks
A programmer writes code, usually from a spec which tells you exactly what to do (no problems to solve)
A software developer develops software (including design / programming / unit testing / documentation), but may include more (or less) if your employer asks of it.
Well that's my opinion anyway
Not necessarily - but it is what a graduate prgrammer does!!!
Seriously, it sounds like your getting some good experiance there. My advice would be to stick with it. Its good to experiance how the code you write affects the users, the IT pros and the support team.
In my opinion it take 5-10 years before you can really say you your a novice (journeyman) developer - so there's no rush. Stick with it and keep learning.
Software development involves the entire lifecycle, from early design, to implementation, testing, documentation, etc. Even if there are people with specific job titles (e.g., QA folks), you should be able to do each of these tasks reasonably well.
In many projects it is difficult to carry out your job effectively without some systems skills, like copying files, using Unix, diagnosing simple network issues, etc.
However, your job is not to be an IT person. If you are responsible for "grandparent tasks" (i.e., things your grandparents would ask you to do since you have something to do with computers) like removing spyware from your manager's machine, you are not doing the job of a programmer. However, being a graduate student is the lowest step on the foodchain, so it is part of that.
In smaller companies, generally you do a LOT more than if you have a specific role on a team in a bigger company