Some software developers are self taught and do fine. The problem might be that you are referring to it as a "profession." It is for some, but for others it is something they might do more casually, and that should be ok.

Would you agree that a teenager should be able to build a widget for a local business's web site for money? Or should a license be required to do that? Should that same teenager have to get a license to baby sit or mow lawns? Presumably you don't think of baby sitting or lawn mowing as professions, so that's the difference.

Maybe a license should be required to call themselves a "software engineer." But beyond that, I think this article views things in way too black and white terms.