I should also note that anyone can assist an engineer, so it's not like Computer Scientists are cut out of the field. Many disciplines have technicians and other specialists who are just as technically capable as the engineers in their domain (often more so).

The lead engineer signs off of on releases, and they're the main person held responsible if there's a safety incident traced back to sloppy work. That was the only real difference between the engineers and non-engineers I worked with. It basically just meant, "the buck stops here."