These people have been called 'software developers' or just 'programmers' back in the day. In fact, I'd argue that most commercial software development is more like plumbing than engineering.

Here's a hint: if you're writing control software for airplanes, medical devices or industrial plants, you're an engineer; if you're developing a UI frontend for a website, you're probably not.

I've worked on enough projects with "real engineers" to see that rigor varies significantly with the person. I've seen a dropout with more engineering rigor than a Waterloo grad (granted, this was at a company with a very selective interview process...)

In practice, you do whatever and then pay a licensed PE with an absolutely massive liability insurance policy to stamp your design. If something goes wrong, they take the fall and go sip drinks on a beach somewhere.

As usual, incentives rule everything around us.