You might be projecting or evincing a limited life experience. Where I live, there is no shame in being a blue collar worker. If anything, I've experienced more discrimination and hate from being a software engineer than my tradespeople friends have experienced from their jobs.
Who's looking down at them? In the US, we had a period where the trades were kind of shat upon, but then those fields dried up, and perceptions shifted. Now, they're good career fields with excellent pay.
I don't think it's really a matter of these jobs being looked down on, at least any more.
These types of jobs require a long-term commitment that doesn't exist in other fields. If you go through the work to become an electrician, that's probably going to be what you do. You also need to moderately intelligent to do electrician work, and its hard on your body.
My personal opinion is that a lot of people with the aptitude for the trades look at white collar work, see that its easier on your body and has more career flexibility and choose the obvious choice.
I looked into a carpentry program when I was younger and went and got my Masters instead because I do semi-dangerous hobbies like skiing. If I break my leg skiing and I do carpentry, i don't work or make money. If I break my leg in my current career, I'd probably just take my computer upstairs.
Just like a large part of USA society, HN is full of “temporary embarrassed millionaires” trying to cozy up with the ruling class whereas most of them have more in common with the blue color worker than the millionaires/billionaires.
It's really is temporary for many readers here though. Assume a FANG engineer salary of $400k+/yr (with a large portion in stock) for someone who chooses to live unassumingly. If they're able to save $200/yr with some stock market trickery, during boom years, that's only 5 years to become a 1 millionaire. Which isn't enough to FIRE in the bay area, but a few more years of that, and a move to a lower CoL place, and, maybe you're still not "ruling class", but you need not work another day in your life.
The only question then is just how common are those kinds of salaries amongst readers here. I'll bet the distribution would be surprising. The only public forum I could see as having a higher percentage is Blind.
This respons feels like I struck a nerve or something, it feels like you identify as a temporary embarrassed millionaire. Yet even if you have like 10M in the bank, you are still closer to the blue collar worker than you'll ever be to the ruling/owning class.
No nerve, just the application of simple back of the envelope math on why someone would try so hard to get a FAANG job. Realistically they're not for everyone. To economist's dismay, humans actually aren't at all economically rational actors. I mistakenly thought that particular phrase would clue readers in on my opinions about the reality of chasing after a FAANG job.
I do take issue with calling me a "temporary embarrassed millionaire" though. Because that refers to a certain mindset where people will vote for politicians who try to take away social welfare programs, and believe that poor people are lazy and unintelligent (despite being poor themselves). Simply wanting to be a millionaire isn't enough, and I'll fully admit to wanting to be a millionaire - who doesn't buy a lottery ticket every once in a while? Or, say, I don't know, spend a bunch of time writing out the math for becoming a millionaire, or what $10m in the bank means.
My comment didn't get into my politics. I don't believe we should get rid of social welfare programs, and I vote accordingly. And to be crystal clear, I don't believe poor people are lazy or unintelligent. In fact, I think lot of poor people work harder - longer hours, for shittier pay, in order to make rent, car payments, and buy food - than the rich, who don't even have to get out of bed or go to a job to get all three of those things.
I live frugally, drive a older car that I fully own, and aren't afraid to admit that I want financial independence and to retire early (FIRE). I still don't want to run the government like a business or get rid of welfare or EBT though. Whether or not I'll make it is another question entirely, but wanting to be a millionaire and hating poor people don't necessarily go hand in hand.
For fun, lets dig into the reality of having $10M in the bank. If you have 10M in the bank, with a 4% APY, which even 1-month t-bills are returning more right now, you'd make $23,802/month, without lifting a finger or getting out of bed. By January 19th, you've made more than the federal poverty level for the year ($14,580). By February 9th, you've already made more than the US median income for the whole year ($31,133). (Last one, I promise.) May 9th is the day that your passive income on $10M will exceed a blue collar's median wage for Wyoming, which is where it's the highest ($56,345; ziprecruiter.com). And there are still 7 more months in the year to go!
So I dare say with $10M in the bank, you would never have to work another day in your life, which, imo, would put you far closer to ruling/owning class than the median blue collar worker, who has a job that they really have to go to and put work into, that pays < $30/hr, probably not consistently (slow months are hell on people's savings), from which they have to make rent, pay car fees, and feed themselves from.
With $10M not-in-the-bank, you could definitely buy and own a small business or two, angel invest in companies, move to a low CoL area and own a bunch of real estate and several cars, and still have money left over to live off the income. I don't see how that's remotely close to the life of a blue collar worker, even if you don't want to call them part of the ruling/owning class. Personally, that sounds pretty ruling/owing class to me though.
This is the truth, and apparently it’s painful for some people to hear and accept. Electricians are just as skilled and may end up being more in demand than the average tech employee because of this fact. If that’s the way it plays out, good for them.