Here in Canada, you need to write an exam in order to legally call yourself an "engineer" – it's a protected term.
By the way, as part of a cost-cutting measure many years ago, the state government standardized on a single certificate form for all professional certifications, which means the PE certificate looks exactly like the "Certified Hair Technician" certificate the barbers at Great Clips are required to display at their work area.
Really great stuff and nice hear about a career move that made you happier :)
Your four years of schooling to get an engineering degree had plenty of exams, spread over the four years. At most you only had to study for one or two of them at a time. The Professional Engineering exam covers everything you were supposed to learn during those four years, all at once. You can't cram for a test like that; you have to actually know things. That's the whole point: did you absorb the knowledge completely, or did you just get by from test to test?
It's done this way because, for most Professional Engineers, decisions have to be made which can cost people their lives if mistakes are made. You gotta know what you're doing before you're allowed to make those decisions.
For most software engineering mistakes aren't nearly that critical, plus for most organizations doing software development preventing bugs to the same degree that a Civil Engineer prevents bridges from failing is too expensive and not worth it.