[Raed667]

would it change anything if they called themselves developers instead?

[tekla]

Yes. They could be "Senior Developers" in the same way "Paramedics" are not "Doctors'

[Raed667]

I come from a country where the title "engineer" is legally protected and needs to be issued by an accredited school.

This had zero impact on software developers careers or salary, except if you wish to work for the government.

[Delk]

"Engineer" is a similarly protected title where I live as well. In my experience, software engineers and software developers without the engineer title seem to do exactly the same kind of work.