If anything, that's the diametrical opposite of engineering. One of the objections to "software engineering" as an engineering discipline is that there isn't enough history from which to draw conclusions on best practices.
> The "work only in an area of competence" sounds a lot like let's bring back apprenticeship and try and create a static craft instead of endorsing dynamic exploration in field where we assume most things aren't yet discovered.
One point of professional licensure is to demonstrate a minimum level of competence. Practicing outside of one's area of demonstrated competence defeats this purpose of licensure. Nothing prevents a mechanical engineer from designing a circuit, but they sure as hell aren't going to stamp that circuit diagram.