Actually it's not even years of experience, I've seen grads with 2 yrs experience promoted to Senior with a minor raise because otherwise they might leave the company.
Licensed professionals don't have identity crises, their titles and what is required of them is legally enforced. The software industry has never lobbied for the interests of "engineers", the way other professions have (taxi drivers, barbers, plumbers, real estate agents, etc formed professional groups which lobbied for laws requiring official licensing). I think it's because software developers are the laziest people on the planet, and they are happy to continue doing almost nothing in order to get hired.
Licensed professionals don't have identity crises, their titles and what is required of them is legally enforced. The software industry has never lobbied for the interests of "engineers", the way other professions have (taxi drivers, barbers, plumbers, real estate agents, etc formed professional groups which lobbied for laws requiring official licensing). I think it's because software developers are the laziest people on the planet, and they are happy to continue doing almost nothing in order to get hired.