Why is engineering called the stealth profession?

Engineering is called the stealth profession due to the lack of recognition and understanding of the field for the general public. The world around us, and what we do daily, depend on a lot of innovations from engineers, but that's not something that is often recognized, understood, or even thought about.

The term stealth profession was used much more often before the 2000s when many people had no idea what engineers were or what they did. The term is changing and being less used as technology advances and more people are generally more aware of engineers and their job duties.