Ok. In the fake engineering world, it's not.

There's nothing about software dev that's anything near like the real engineering world even if the label "software engineering" is used.

Until software dev is regulated by professional boards and the government, it will continue to do the same damage to society that pre-regulation engineering did during the industrial revolution.

Unfortunately thanks to silicon valley, the libertarian viewpoint here has far too much sway

I am constantly reminded of the heavy industrial sites near the US Great Lakes in the early 20th century, and elsewhere. The raw toxic output into the local rivers and air were "worth it" -- to investors and subsequently to their carefully chosen engineers. Did engineering standards alone improve this?

Doesn’t it vary heavily?

Auto mechanics usually are required to bring their own tools to the shop. Historically civil engineers working on paper often brought their own favorite mechanical pencils, calculators, and slide rules.

Back when paper manuals were more common, it was pretty common to see software developers have their own dog-eared O’Reilly books in their cubicles, and those were probably the closest predecessor to something like Claude.