hacker vs software engineer

hacker and software engineer both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
hacker	Yes	No	No	No
software engineer	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, software engineer is a hypernym of hacker; that is, software engineer is a word with a broader meaning than hacker:

hacker: a programmer for whom computing is its own reward; may enjoy the challenge of breaking into other computers but does no harm
software engineer: a person who designs and writes and tests computer programs

Other hypernyms of hacker include coder, computer programmer, programmer.

hacker (noun)	software engineer (noun)
one who works hard at boring tasks	a person who designs and writes and tests computer programs
a programmer for whom computing is its own reward; may enjoy the challenge of breaking into other computers but does no harm
someone who plays golf poorly