Someone non-technical told me yesterday that programming was a blue collar job and that it's common for others to hold the same viewpoint. That surprised me because I just assumed it was white collar; maybe my perspective is wrong.

But the more I think about it, being an ordinary programmer has a lot of parallels to my "blue collar" friends jobs in the Tool&Die and Steel industries.

Example: A machinist is highly skilled and can create a complex metal product. In parallel a programmer is highly skilled and can create a complex software product. Both can be paid hourly. Both jobs could also be looked at as a commodity by the general public. Also these kinds of parallels are converging on the similarity of being outsourced.

It appears other people are having the same debate:
Are I.T. Workers Blue Collar?

I know that I'm being simplistic, but I'm interested in the Monks viewpoint. What do you think?

Update: Since this was started by a comment from the general public; what would the general public classify a stereotypical programmer as (blue/white)?

In reply to Programmers Blue Collar? by awohld

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