I'm a Materials Engineer (I currently work in Metallurgy and industrial refining, before that Lithium Ion battery research).
One thing I don't think was covered in the article was liability. I think that is a major thing that separates software engineering from other branches of engineering. Maybe it is not the case in the US but in my country if I contribute to an engineering project I can be held accountable in a court of law for my work.
I can see a future where software has similar laws applied to it.
Working in healthcare, engineers are liable for breaching data violations around health data. In everything from logging, storage and deletion of data, developers need to make sure that there is no personally identifiable information. There are plenty of other high stakes domains where engineers are certainly liable.
I used to write software for industrial control systems. Knowing that someone's life is relying on the software I wrote (but last had control over) 8 years ago to do what it's supposed to right now is a deeply unsettling feeling.
One thing I don't think was covered in the article was liability. I think that is a major thing that separates software engineering from other branches of engineering. Maybe it is not the case in the US but in my country if I contribute to an engineering project I can be held accountable in a court of law for my work.
I can see a future where software has similar laws applied to it.