Ok, fine, if you gonna be nitpicky, it's a calculation to an electrical engineer.
> To Software Engineering coding is an essential part.
Not really. You can be a Principal Engineer/Architect/Maintainer and do very little coding, but lots of code review and testing.
The point is, if you're just banging out code, then you're a software developer. If you use the engineering design process (research, requirements, design document, feasibility, conceptual design, prototype, detailed design) to solve problems using software, then you're a software engineer.
>Funnily enough, I had Linus in mind as a sort of no-coding Principal Engineer/Architect/Maintainer. He famously said he doesn't code anymore [1].
That's after he coded his ass out for 20 years. And he's doing reviewing and merging, which is not some lofty "software architect" function, but deals directly with written code.
If they're Linus level sure. I've met more than enough clueless "have coded sometime in the past but have not touched a PC in 10 years" types promoted to such roles...
It isn't. Coding is to software engineering, what calculation is to math. A necessary but insufficient condition.
> And then soon the boss demands more output, like the guys who left it all to Claude and even run 5x in parallel give.
You can get 100x output for 1/100x the price, if you replace the monthly Claude subscription with a Markov chain. Think of the efficiency gains.
Sure, it will be garbage, but think of the velocity.