I would say that currently the German society is a very riven/divided one, with various groups being bitter enemies, each with their very own contradictory hiearchies with very different groups at the apex.

So, to find out which disciplines could be at the apex of prestige, I apply the criterion "What do you want your child to become when they grow up?" for various, very different social groups. I would claim that the following list consists of very plausible answers (again: be aware that each of these jobs can easily be a low-prestige or even fiercely hated one by a different social group):

- doctor, dentist

- pharmacist (be nevertheless aware that in opposite to former times, this is not a license to print money anymore)

- judge, prosecutor, notary (but rather not "Rechtsanwalt" [barrister?]; there exist war too many "Rechtsanwälte" [barristers?], so that the competition among them can be fierce)

- business consultant, "Wirtschaftsprüfer" [auditor]

- patent attorney

- don't study (too theoretical): get a vocational training in skilled crafts and trades instead

- high-ranking "Beamter" [civil servant]

- professor (be aware that it depends a lot on the social group whether or which discipline is considered to be prestigious or frowned upon)

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Remark: concerning "engineer" (in the very classical sense of "special cases of physics" engineering discliplines; German law is very strict what an "Ingenieur" [engineer] is [1], [2]), I would claim that it is not considered to be an "apex of prestige" one, but depending on the social group a respected choice of study/job.

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[1] https://www.ingenieur.de/karriere/arbeitsrecht/ingenieurgese...

[2] https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ingenieur&oldid=2...

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