The "profession" concept has been very cleverly devised and used, particularly in science, to avoid paying people in full value for the work they do. This exceedingly bright idea, which may have originated in the UK, stamps people as professionals, which once done requires from them a total 24/7 commitment to their profession and a "get-the-job-done no matter what it takes" approach. However they are paid a salary commenserate with something in the order of a 35 to 40 hour working week at rates slightly above a competent welder and no more! This is one thing which is particularly "true" in engineering! The bankers are finally getting round it.
You'll need to define what you mean by "a true profession".
I think a better word for engineering is vocation:
A vocation (Latin vocātiō - a call, summons) is an occupation to which a person is specially drawn or for which he or she is suited, trained, or qualified.
- because that emphasises the fact that an engineer needs to have the innate ability to understand how things work. That's something that can't be learned.
Having a qualification in engineering does not make you an engineer, nor does lack of an engineering qualification mean you are not an engineer.
You have advanced knowledge of the application of scientific principles, you publicly hold yourself out as willing to practice their application, you are willing to be held responsible for the results including civil and criminal penalties, and you subscribe to a canon of ethics that places the public good over your own.
Proper useful solutions, and tangible results in the form of products and structures.
What makes a person human?
I'm licensed and I never got a check for having it.
When you are licensed and get paid.
