If you're in the US and want to be extremely pedantic/annoying, then no. ABET (the engineering accreditation society in the US), doesn't have "Software Engineering" as a valid discipline.

Sure it does: http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?Orga...

The software engineering PE exam has been offered for the past 3 years.

https://engineers.texas.gov/software.html

Let's look at the numbers. Texas and Florida have a PE test for Software Engineers. In Texas the numbers are (see [1]):

2014: 6 people took the test and 2 passed.

2015: 5 people took the test and 2 passed.

2016: 3 people took the test and 2 passed.

Only California has more programmers than Texas, see [2], and it appears that there are 6 Professional Engineers at most in Texas in the field of Software Engineering out of over 20,000 programmers.

My conclusion is that the title of PE in Software Engineering is currently pretty meaningless in the US.

[1] https://engineers.texas.gov/exam_passfail.htm

[2] http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151131.htm

Several factors of this:

* Demand, since it is a new exam very few companies will be looking for a PE in software engineering.

* Supply, it's not just taking the test (starting with the FE) but you also need to have worked under a PE in the field (hah!) or had relevant experience to waive that requirement (this is a lot more vague and determined by the state). I would wager that most with relevant experience in the field are also not wanting to bust ass to study for a PE exam that no employers are demanding.

I'll be interested to see how long it takes for this to be more common. When I graduated (computer engineering) the consensus was that unless we knew our job would require a PE in the future that we didn't bother even taking the FE exam.

That's fine, but I think that the parent was responding to this:

> ABET (the engineering accreditation society in the US), doesn't have "Software Engineering" as a valid discipline.

Which can be true or false independently of how meaningful the title is.

The Computer Engineering degree I have is from an ABET program, it was pretty even on CS/EE. No regrets, except for the times the hardware guys act like I'm just a software guy and the software guys act like I don't know anything about software because I'm a hardware guy. XD

Will Software Engineering become a valid engineering discipline?

It is a valid engineering discipline. Engineering is about making useful things, from metal, from concrete, from semiconductors, and from software. Engineering requires the application of methods that use science, mathematics, and processes that have been studied to invent and construct solutions. This is what Civil Engineers do and this is what Software Engineers do too.

I see nothing wrong with someone calling themselves a software engineer that has both training (a CS degree for example) and experience (a few years) working in software development.

Why does some random organization get to decide whether or not people are a thing? It'd be one thing if it was the government, but this is like saying that no one can be a "soccer player" unless the USSF says so.

> this is like saying that no one can be a "soccer player" unless the USSF says so

No, it's like professional soccer teams saying "I won't hire anybody who the USSF didn't say is a 'soccer player' because they have a good track record of establishing credentials and I trust their judgment".

That seems orthogonal. The issue is ownership of language, not what certifications are required for a specific role at a company.

Soccer players aren't responsible for designing walkways that won't catastrophically collapse when loaded. Also, not everyone in an engineering type role is a PE. There are some circumstances where the PE double/triple checks work done and signs off on it, putting their license (and livelihood) on the line if the work is shoddy.

Yep structural engineering design in most countries doesn't need to be done by a registered professional engineer - just signed off by one. A lot of offices will have graduate/junior engineers that are not registered yet (but often working towards it) doing a lot of the donkey work. But they aren't responsible for it - the registered engineer who signs off on their work is.

I have absolutely no problem with a non-government organization claiming authority over something like "ABET-Certified® Engineer". I have a giant problem with a non-government organization claiming authority over the generic English word "engineer".

In the US it's more that the government claims authority over the phrase Professional Engineer [0], but ABET accredited programs feed into the FE exams which feed into the PE exams which are required to be licensed by the government. Little bit messier than either GP or you implied.

[0] and probably also offering "engineering" services but I'm not sure of the extent there

My degree is a "Bachelors of Engineering specialising in Software Engineering". Do I win?