A key difference is that engineering standards have grown to the point where we don’t hire a plumber to come multiple times to clear drains and patch leaks. The drains were built large enough and with proper materials to last for years without maintenance. We don’t have people constantly shoring up bridges either.

This is why some people don’t consider software engineering to be engineering.

Too many people justifying their existence by shipping unnecessary and poorly thought out features leads to unreliable, complex software that needs constant maintenance to keep it running.