Isn't software "engineering" or shouldn't it be considered that? Creating a new painting program might not be considered that and a software failure would have little impact, but there is a huge amount of software which is essential for the operation of complex systems. We just had large parts of the internet impacted by the PHP bug - a lot of businesses were harmed in their fundamental processes by it. Like if a roof of a warehouse had collapsed.

In Europe, a lot of supermarkets were hit by a remote exploit which allowed attackers to switch off cooling of food. A blood bank in France was attacked the same way.

So how would building software for important or even safety-relvant systems not be considered "engineering"?

Especially, as faulty software might not only cause a product or device to fail in a dangerous manner, faulty software in this day and age often makes it possibly to remotely attack the faulty product.