Imo the root issue is that SWE is such a young profession: it hasn't had time to find a real footing, it's probably somewhere in the barber surgeon era about now.
Therefore the current identity crisis: the avg SWE is expected to be skilled and autonomous, but also report to daily standups and use mythical "story points" to estimate Very Serious Projects.
I would say devs are neither plumbers nor engineers but managers (of automation), but to recognize this is not Agile so instead we'll treat them as cheap cogs and wonder why the best escape to run their own shop where they can recapture the responsibilities and compensation eroded by bloat and grifters.
This is why the corp narrative is so wishful toward AI replacing engineers: an abstract magic box that prints money with no concept of accountability, copyright, liability is a dream for CEOs.
Therefore the current identity crisis: the avg SWE is expected to be skilled and autonomous, but also report to daily standups and use mythical "story points" to estimate Very Serious Projects.
I would say devs are neither plumbers nor engineers but managers (of automation), but to recognize this is not Agile so instead we'll treat them as cheap cogs and wonder why the best escape to run their own shop where they can recapture the responsibilities and compensation eroded by bloat and grifters.
This is why the corp narrative is so wishful toward AI replacing engineers: an abstract magic box that prints money with no concept of accountability, copyright, liability is a dream for CEOs.