Though at this point I think you could argue software 'engineers' make way more than on real engineers. At least the upside is much higher. I can not think of any other job where you can have no formal education and have chance of making over 500k a year. Which makes your point even stronger.. we pay the people who design things that could kill you less and make them way more accountable. I hate being called software engineer I feel a developer is a better term.