What do you mean with licensing? What’s the difference to a university degree?
I would be in favor of licensing knowing it would probably exclude me unless of course it does not require a university degree. I was not born into a family of means and being autodidactic allowed me to excel beyond my upbringing.
The best path would be to have journeyman type of pathway.
You'd still need to interview people because there's no license that will tell you who the good/great candidates are
Basically you find a grad right now and make them do a coding test. Something is broken there.
A degree could include the vocational qualification as a 1 year study, but having the vocation qualification alone would save youngsters a lot of money and reduce the burden on hiring. You could even still interview coding questions but the application process can remove the spam/ai bullshit to some extent. "Can they code?" is answered.
Who would want to work at such a place? Why would I trust the opinions of people who work at such a place?
I acknowledge that some feel their contributions are at that level, but that doesn't mean it's the norm.