I've built a house myself and could probably be an electrician easily enough after spending part of my engineering career wiring large electrical power systems and also doing my own residential power extensions and residential electrical systems. I also very much prefer that work over engineering.

The reason why I stick with engineering is I do not want to work in a licensed field. You are then always at the mercy of the government, to keep granting your license, and youmay lose/suspend it if you are ever convicted of a crime. Not to mention if for whatever reason, intended or accidental, you lose the license men with guns can be sent to rough you up and put you in a tiny cage, probably at the direction of other license holders who are eager to protect their little castle that requires 4 years of slave work to (surprise who? them!) get beyond the moat.

Then there's the case that trades are subjected to heavy protectionism, so usually carrying them to another country is unviable, so you are now locked into whatever state/country your license is in and face incredible hostility if you end up a refugee/asylee or your country goes to shit and you have to leave.

The advantage of software, electrical, and the unlicensed parts of mechanical and chemical engineering fields is that you can carry on for the most part without assholes from the state or deranged voters constantly threatening to shut you down for whatever genius idea they have next, often enforced by some annoying code enforcement inspector who only has 1% the knowledge you do as to when physics dictates whether their half-witted rule book even makes any sense.