I also don't have a degree. One thing that could be done would be something closer to how doctors are handled in most (?) countries: you need to pass some kind

I also don't have a degree. One thing that could be done would be something closer to how doctors are handled in most (?) countries: you need to pass some kind of certification and you need to recertify on a regular basis. A doctor, additionally, needs a PhD but I don't think that's needed for software development. We just need proof that the person produces safe systems, based on the most recent understandings of how to do that. And I wouldn't expect someone to need this certification before a compiler would run. I would envision something more along the lines of: a company cannot have a "badge of software engineering" or some such unless all the developers working on their production systems have these certifications. If it's a small company running a PHP website then they probably don't need certified people and probably their clients won't (initially) care that they're missing the saftey badge.