Were Software Engineers blue-collar workers all along?

The author argues that software engineers should be reclassified as skilled blue-collar workers rather than white-collar professionals, since they create and fix things like other trades—just in digital form rather than physical materials. This reclassification could help developers better understand their current anxiety about AI, as blue-collar workers have historically adapted to technological disruption by learning to use new tools rather than being displaced by them. The author suggests the tech industry's 30-year "honeymoon" of treating developers as uniquely indispensable is ending, and engineers must now adapt like other skilled trades have done throughout history.