Words change, and there is no such thing as a “true” or “phony” engineer. The original engineers built siege engines, and were weaponsmongers:

Middle English (denoting a designer and constructor of fortifications and weapons; formerly also as ingineer ): in early use from Old French engigneor, from medieval Latin ingeniator, from ingeniare ‘contrive, devise’, from Latin ingenium (see engine); in later use from French ingénieur or Italian ingegnere, also based on Latin ingenium, with the ending influenced by -eer.

So the evolution of the word engineer to encompass software engineering is its emergent, and I’d imagine by the middle of this century, it’s dominant, form.