When developing Mach-II, I have to say that I’ve learned more from other languages and their respective frameworks than I’ve learned directly from CFML development. It’s all about perspective on how to solve problems or devise new solutions. Getting inspirations from other places is always going to give you more diversity then if you only look from within.

But if a CF expert were to be hired at a company that only has .Net, there is a bigger learning curve. And I don’t think that company would even consider converting to CF and rebuilding all programs in CF.

The investment a company makes in a programming language is much greater than most other tools. A better comparison would be network administrator. You’re either a Windows admin or Unix admin. Yes, some people know more than both or more, but most fit into one or the other. And again a company makes a significant investment toward one or the other and when hiring, looks for someone with that skill set.

I use quite the similar list of tools and gave up the “CF developer” title a while back when Flex/AIR/AS3/JScript/etc all became staples in the arsenal.

I was mainly talking about how we describe ourselves to our peers (recruitment aside), nothing more than that. I know many people have no freedom to use more than one or two tools at a time, but I also realise a lot of people, who tend to be in an agency situation, do have.

I completely understand where you are coming from with recruiting a CF/Flex developer – as I would do exactly the same, but my blog post was merely interested in the fact that day to day I would refer to myself as, say, a PHP developer, and not a web applications developer, which is what I actually do day to day.

Lastly, if you believe that I think I am better than anyone else in some way – you are sorely mistaken – I am the first person to question my own skills in any situation.

I don’t think there was anything particularly controversial about your prior post (no one would argue that learning new things is a negative) other than the tone, which continues in this post, that somehow your recent switch to Rails made you a more enlightened developer than one whose job focuses on CF and, thereby, has spent his/her career focused on the technology they actually use. I am glad you enjoy Rails and that your current position gives you the freedom to drastically change course like that…but I don’t buy that this somehow makes you a better developer. Sorry.

And now the long answer…

I think the design world is different than the programming world. If you want to equate it to automobiles… you can be a mechanic (developer) of a certain type of car. But if you paint cars… does it really matter the brand of car it is? If someone wants you to paint their high end exotic, you paint it. But if they ask you to bore out the engine and stroke it… well then you need a specific mechanic.

And it also depends on your audience, boiling down to buzzwords.

I sell myself as a “Web Developer”. It’s the key phrase I aim for in my ongoing SEO.
My target is not an end client. I rarely rarely take work for end clients – unless I find the website either interesting, fun, or prestigious. Typically, not ecommerce resellers of made-in-china-ware.
Instead, I like to work for design firms. It’s usually ongoing work and I’ve built strong relationships with just a few. We trade work. They are the ones looking for ‘web developers’.
And for the most part, they don’t care what programming language you use (the exception being mods to an existing site). So it doesn’t even matter. Heck, they don’t even care where you host the site as long as it’s reliable. So I’m a VAR of hosting as well.

However, you should definitely make known the languages you can support. Someone may be looking for a specific talent.
BUT only say you are an expert in one or two. This approach makes a certain saying not apply to you: “Jack of all trades, master of none.”
For instance I would say for myself…
Expert in: ColdFusion and JavaScript
Specialty: Search Engine Optimized AJAX Applications
Programming in: PHP, My/SQL, Scriptaculous, CSS, X/HTML, etc

Whew… my finger tips are on fire.

Another reason for the label, especially when looking for work, could simply be that you feel you are expertly proficient in tool X and *want* to market yourself that way, despite or in spite of your exposure or experience with other tools. If you desire a job using tool X then there is no reason not to state that up front.

In the opposite direction, why don’t we just call ourselves “developers”, or “programmers”? Probably because it’s just too generic. It’s like saying “I’m a tradesperson”. That’s great, but are you the type that can fix my sink or paint my living room?

Sometimes ambiguity is nice, other times not so much.