[benzofuran]

Many times software engineers fall under the 'industrial exemption' for most states' professional practices acts. That's how many folks without a PE are able to be engineers - as long as they're not selling engineering services to the general public, but only to their employer.

Things get trickier with software as well - with many engineering disciplines, the public can be placed in harm's way by the malpractice of engineering - that's why many civil firms require PE's. In other areas, it's less desirable - for defense contractors, many purposely avoid PE's due to our ethical obligations around harming the public.

Surrounding software, I think a major part of it is just that the laws haven't caught up with the times. NCEES now has a Software PE available but no clue about the contents of the exam. It seems like a tricky one to test for.

[kabdib]

The last time I saw the areas covered by a PE exam for Software Engineering was maybe 25 years ago, in California. Over half the exam was electrical engineering. Less than a third was actually about anything related to software.

Near as I could tell, it was a rent-seeking and exclusionary agenda of some entrenched parties. The proposed exam requirement for software engineers didn't go anywhere.

[caseysoftware]

ABET has a Software Engineering program now - https://www.softwareengineerinsider.com/abet/abet-software-e...

It has little to do with languages and frameworks and more on principles and practices.

I'm biased as my undergrad was one of the first to become certified.

[kixiQu]

I mean, so was mine, and it was Not Great.

[WA9ACE]

Looks like it got axed https://ncees.org/ncees-discontinuing-pe-software-engineerin...