I, too, was a "real" engineer before transitioning into software. I think you are right with your analysis. "Real" engineering, as practised by people in the industry, is neither harder nor more rigorous than real world software engineering. I wonder where this idea comes from. I read that very often here on HN.
For me, the reason I give so much respect to Engineers is that they have a profession, a set of rules they are willing to stand up for, and not violate. The law supports them in this manner. Perhaps my respect is misplaced, I'll never know for sure.
The application of the rules and procedures reliably, every time, every day, for every little change, just seems so damned boring and yet terrifying. Knowing that if you're wrong, one or perhaps many people will die, is a strong incentive to do things right.
Take the walkway collapse caused by a seemingly small change to make construction easier[1]. Or, the institutional failure when Engineers are over-ridden by management with spread-sheets who don't actually understand the problem at hand.[2]
But... The day in, day out grind, it's so tempting to be clever and creative, and do the thing that programmers do all to often when they write code so cleaver they can't debug it. Give in to the temptation once, and someone else could die.
What a grind... It's like being an accountant with a sword dangling over your head.
Engineering is about being methodical and prudent, not about being the sharpest tool in the shed.
