Well, if we want to make Software Engineers real, credentialed Engineers, then perhaps this is how...
It just isn't a widespread thing.
While you aren't strictly required to be certified to work as Engineer. You are required as such by law in case you have legal responsibilities on the project, like having your name in contracts.
Additionally any university that wants to offer an engineering degree, must have the degree certified as compliant with the Order requirements for such a degree.
So even if you don't do the certification, at least there is some assurance regarding the quality of the teaching.
Some other European countries have similar approaches to this.
Ah yeah, I can see how much better the certification makes everything now. Thanks for that!
Having 60 work hour weeks, 1 week vacation and tons of VC money to spend is not related with having a degree.
In fact many of those marvelous US things were created by expat teams, which got an engineer degree back home before trying their luck in US.
You can get certified as a Professional Engineer (PE) by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). The general requirements are a degree from an accredited program, passing the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam, 4 years of supervision under a PE, and passing a PE exam.
Here's some information on the PE Electrical and Computer exam: https://ncees.org/engineering/pe/electrical-computer/
As far as I know there isn't much benefit to becoming a PE as a programmer unless you are working in an industry that requires it. I have heard that some programming jobs at power companies require a PE, but I have never come across any. The National Society of Professional Engineers has a job board, but none of the programming jobs currently on it require a PE: https://careers.nspe.org/jobs/discipline/computer-software-e...
I took the FE as a part of my undergraduate degree but I don't expect that I will ever become a PE.