[cccc4all]

The author seems like an academic and doesn't seem to have practical engineering knowledge.

Engineering is the process for solving problems, usually at business scale.

Mechanical Engineering solves problems of moving widget A into widget B, at scale of thousands or millions of widgets.

Electrical Engineering solves problems of moving electrical power form point A to point B, at scale of generating and delivering electrical power to millions of customers.

Software Engineering solves problems of moving digital data from point A to point B, at scale of collecting Billions of user data into databases and generating metrics reports.

[nojokes]

And how do you apply? Even when you have premade solution (from somebody else), you have to learn it. Most of the time you have to learn how to solve a problem not familiar for you.

The same applies to other industries. How do you imagine smart grid does appear?

[cccc4all]

There are differences in How and Why of software engineering. The author attempts to answer Why of software engineering by answering some aspect of How of software engineering.

Learning is part of the How of software engineering. The Why of software engineering is to develop and deliver solutions to business problems.