[nialo]

I wasn't particularly talking about software engineers. I have a mechanical engineering degree, and none of the ~20ish engineers at the first place I worked had a PE licence. If you want "engineer" in a job title to mean "has a PE licence", you're going to need to change the title of perhaps 95% of people currently employed in mechanical or electrical engineering. Probably more than ninety percent of aerospace engineers too. There is maybe an argument to be made that programming shouldn't be called "software engineering", but this really isn't it.

Also for whatever it is worth, I've now worked in mechanical engineering for 5 years and software for about 1 year, and they both feel the same to me. Software is sometimes faster and sloppier, but I think that's just because the build process for a program takes minutes and the build process for the CVD machines I used to design takes months.