@evan Most of the job of "software engineer" is the same as any other white-collar job: coordinate with your peers, write clearly, plan projects, play office politics. The software part usually a small minority of the day.
I think anyone who's going to call themselves "software engineer" (as opposed to "indie app dev" or whatever) needs to have (or be on a new entrant to the field on a path to gaining) those core professional skills, and to have experience using them.