The relationship between Software Engineering (60% of the most used languages are "scripting" languages) and "running cable," is that they are both concerned with creating direct utility to people. I fully understand and respect that the completely theoretical side of CS might seem more difficult and therefore superior (?) to engineering, just as coding might seem more advanced than "running cable," but I could never see dismissing "running cable" as inferior to writing code. I would also point out that the top 5 U.S. CS programs, for whatever misguided reason, are all very much interested in creating direct utility to people -- through HCI, Software Development, even bad code: http://hci.stanford.edu/research/opportunistic/