People who write the software that controls a nuclear reactor are definitely applying engineering principles (If they're not, then the world has a problem). Does that make them engineers? I would argue it does.

The problem with the programming profession is that it's possible to get away with not applying good engineering principles. It's only in domains like the nuclear industry, or the military (fighter planes etc.) where we can really imagine the consequences of buggy software.

Software Engineer is a title that reminds of how we should be approaching the programming problem.