​Are Software Engineers Real Engineers?

Or: who can be most easily replaced with A.I.?

I would like to first share the anecdote of what led to me writing this article.
Some time back, I started following a newsletter on LinkedIn that was written by a software engineer. We had a number of interactions within the comments section of a few posts – so I sent a connection request. After his acceptance and after reading some more of my content his message to me was “You seem to have a background in real engineering.”

He was wondering if my content was equally applicable to software engineering.

I had always assumed two things:

1. Software engineers are real engineers.
2. They benefit equally well from what I share about being a global engineer.

However, based on the anecdote above, I realise that some engineers might not make the same assumptions.

I therefore had planned, since then, to write this article – explain that yes software engineers are indeed real engineers and how they too can benefit from things like framing, systemic thinking, and first principles.

However, now seems a more opportune time to talk about this nuance of engineering identity. This is because of the mass layoffs we are seeing in the software space due to AI. This trend and how it affects people in the space – people like software engineers – was reported in the L.A. Times (https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-03-06/tech-layoffs-pile-up-as-sllicon-valley-shakeout-continues-into-2026). There is certainly some cynicism about this – the term “A.I. washing” is used, but it is also clear that more and more jobs in the space have been automated.

Does this automation mean that software engineers were never really engineers in the first place?
I recall when CAD became a thing. Many drafters lost their jobs – some of these people were engineers. Some engineers were then expected to do their own drafting or do their own drafting faster – so fewer engineers were needed.

I also recall the introduction of simulation software. Engineers did not need to calculate or experiment as much. Again, more could be expected of fewer engineers, and a company did not need as many engineers.
However, something else also happened. A company could now consider investing in engineers (or more engineers) because there could now be greater returns. Putting 50% more into your engineers could now see 200% more gains in product improvement – and market share or profit margins.

A.I., in the software space, I think, will have the same effect. Applications that once seemed marginal, due to the effort required to develop them, now would seem profitable – because fewer software engineers would be needed to develop the application. Also, larger applications, with even greater returns, can now be considered.

Therefore, the recent events in the software space – while deeply troubling for those who have lost their employment (and I do hope that if you are one of these people, then you find something else soon) – is an indication that software engineers are indeed real engineers. They are going through what the rest of us went through some time back.
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But we can also look more deeply at what software engineers do and compare it to engineering expertise.

Do software engineers ever frame?
Only all the time. It is often the case that the assumed strategy to create a desired function in an application hit a stumbling block, and a new approach is needed. Also, once the feature is tried with real life users, it is found that the way people actually want to use the application is different from what is assumed. This demands a new approach or frame.

Do software engineers need to think systemically?
Do I even need to answer this? Applications need to run on something – often a diversity of machines – so this needs to be factored in. Some applications have numerous subroutines – these can interact with each other and cause numerous issues if not managed at the systems level. Most applications also run on machines that are running other applications – and you need to ensure they are compatible.

Do software engineers need to use first principles?
I recall talking with a software engineer who was writing code for a simulation package. He needed to understand the differential equations – so he needed to understand first principles. However, once the program ran, he did not know if the results were reasonable or not. So he needed to improve his first principles. First principles also helps a software engineer optimise the efficiency of the methods used to process information. This is all congruent with software engineers needing and using first principles.

After reading the above, and seeing how the experiences and attributes are so similar, it should be clear to you that software engineers are indeed “real engineers”. I would not be surprised if they are sometimes separated from other engineers, and would benefit more from interactions with other engineers, but it still remains clear that they are engineers and they can be global engineers.