That’s missing the point. Engineers perform at a specific level. You don’t expect civil engineers to build the bridge. Can they do it? Sure. But that’s not the profession. Same with Structural Engineers, Chemical Engineers, Industrial Engineers, etc. They are at a higher level in the planification and execution process and will likely have signatory responsibilities on the project. If the bridge falls, the engineer does have explaining to do.
The equivalent for a software engineer would be (in the US) more at the level of architect with responsibilities higher than developers.
But engineers is not a protected term so everyone is an engineer now.
It’s called a network effect and it’s the same reason everyone is on TikTok or Facebook or here. Like it or not when I started my project (a few months ago) people told me “you need to create a Twitter account, that’s where the people are”. I did, only post updates to the project, don’t use it to actually follow people, but I still have a few dozens followers.