I'm going to sit on the fence on this one, having one foot in each camp. I will say that there are probably more Licenced engineers that are qualified to fly an aeroplane than there are licenced commercial pilots who are qualified to fix them, though.
One exchange I had with a captain ( and I will admit that I'd had a bitch of a day, so wasn't at my diplomatic best ) was when I'd signed off his aircraft against the DDM, only to be told that he wasn't happy, and that his technical opinion was more important than mine because he was the captain.
My response was that nobody would dream of questioning the captains importance, but given the three autopilots that actually fly the aircraft, and it only taking one person to monitor it doing so, I would certainly be debating whether he was necessary. Is it really necessary to have two people watching the aircraft fly itself?
It took a while before the bottom lip started to quiver, but it made the point.
Most pilots that I've come across are great blokes and are only too keen to quiz you on what you're doing to fix it. This isn't out of a desire to question your professionalism or ability, but to understand more about what the switches actually do when the four ringed arm of God moves them.