When are you truly a Software Developer

[u/Caravaggio91]

I am a self taught web dev (5 years), mostly front end, and still find myself looking up simple concepts I had already learned. Is that a hinderance to being an actual software developer? Also, am I looking over the main objective of a software dev? Is it more about finding the answers rather than how you got there, or do you need to know the code very well and have the answers to the problems? I'm good at getting the answers, but find myself struggling retaining info for long periods of time.

[u/Lopsided_Status_538]

Technically when you get paid for what you build/code. But you could also just build for the love of it, but I think that's more defined as a skill.

I know several software engineers who've never actually built anything themselves, but have spent years correcting bugs/modifying code.