I don't call myself a programmer because software development is not programming, probably not even mainly. Moreover, programmer gives other people a false impression of your work. Outsiders consider a 'programmer' to be a 'trained monkey that does the typesetting'. Software developer, in an all-encompassing sense, is the best description I have found for my work.
I promise you, outsiders have no concept of what a programmer does beyond, "Works magic with a computer." "Software developer" and "programmer" are equivalent to the layman.
The negative association with the word "programmer" is an industry-specific thing.
