[tensor]

Google and the majority of silicon valley grossly abuse the term software engineer (which is what you describe). There are very few software engineers at google, mostly just developers, many of whom are actually PhDs, which is also not an engineer.

Engineering is about process and responsibility. A professional engineer is often a protected term, and comes with a certain legal authority to approve designs as sound and correct. The purpose of this is to give people a reasonably reliable way to ensure that the people they go to for engineering designs meet a minimum level of professional knowledge. AFAIK in some cases the engineer can be held liable if their design fails causing death.

Can you imagine if developers had to take on some liability by legally and officially "approving" that a software design meets some criteria of being "free from error"? It's almost crazy to consider it, though you can imagine that such a thing would actually be pretty important for say, medical equipment software, or aircraft control software. Unfortunately this is pretty far from the reality of software engineering.

Unlike other forms of engineering, there is no such thing as a "professional software engineer", though you can get a degree in the _topic_ of software engineering.

TLDR there are no "software engineers" in the same sense that you have electrical or mechanical engineers. The protection on the term engineer in software is commonly contested, though perhaps less so in the US then elsewhere.

[TazeTSchnitzel]

I agree with you that "Software Engineer" is often used pretentiously. Supposedly a lot of North American companies advertise "Software Engineers" because the job category "engineer" is mentioned in the NAFTA treaty (i.e. it's easier to hire people that way).

[EduardoBautista]

Funny, in Canada they appear to do the exact opposite because engineering jobs are regulated. So instead of "software engineers" it's more common to find "software developers".

[TheCoelacanth]

Most electrical and mechanical engineers aren't Professional Engineers either. A Professional Engineer's sign off is only needed on safety critical projects, so most don't bother with it because they don't work on safety critical projects.