By developing software. …which is why “developer” is not a good job-description. I suppose it’s as if both a bricklayer and a civil-engineer referred to themse

By developing software. …which is why “developer” is not a good job-description. I suppose it’s as if both a bricklayer and a civil-engineer referred to themselves as “builders”. —————- I think you meant to ask “how does someone become an SWE?” - in which case (because we don’t have professional licensing for SWE compared to civil-eng) it’s somewhat vaguer and, in my opinion, more based on the opinions of those around you. I suppose a succinct definition is “applies engineering principles to a problem-solving project” - and one can argue that being self-taught or a coding-camp attendee - or even an AS graduate - will very likely lack exposure to training in engineering principles that they can apply to their work.