A lot of programmers consider themselves to be applied mathematicians.

Maybe more in years past when Comp Sci was a subset of Math Departments.

In my observation, most programmers and engineers lose their math chops over time. The math they need is mostly baked into their tools, such as CAD. If a problem requires more advanced math, it's given to a "math person" in the department. Often, the "math person" is also not allowed to touch the production code.