Money isn't everything, there's a status component related to those professions (especially if you are coming from poorer background) and a lot of people like the idea of being a doctor or a lawyer. TBH you have to be a certain kind of person to enjoy sitting in front of a screen 8H a day to work on stuff most people would find meaningless (eg. getting paid to optimize ad revenue, speed up PHP execution to save data center energy usage...).

Likewise being a plumber isn't that respectable either.

And let's not even get into the dating/marriage aspect of it.

In my job, I get exposed to the owners of plumbing, construction, and other blue collar industries. From what I've seen, their houses are huge, their spouses are gorgeous, and they live in regions where they get to have an incredible quality of life.

The owner of a construction company told me once that he makes a 15% profit per year, and he charges far less than the competition because he would feel slimy taking more.

My impression as well.

Tradesmen that can run a business and aren’t in the auto mechanics space, the oil industry, or working (vs supervising) in construction seem to do so well.

Those three are caveats based on anecdotal evidence on industry trends and manual labor injury risks.

Occasionally the status thing will come up regarding jobs and I find it interesting. I suppose HN tends to view software developers as high-status, probably because of its roots in the bay sate startup scene, where to imagine, yeah.

But when I tell people what I do. A large number still don’t know what the fuck it actually is, outside “something with computers”.

My impression is lawyers, doctors, bankers and consultants are the highest status among the general public, closely followed by engineers. Tradesmen below all of those, not quite at the bottom but in the bottom 60-70 percent.

and that perception of status is largely dictated by the mass media and movie businesses. Portraying a job as high-status makes it high-status in the eye of the audience, that's why it's generally accepted as higher status to be an actor than to be a backend developer. You 'll rarely see a show that ridicules actors but computer nerds are regularly ridiculed

I mean that's part of it, but the media/movie industry doesn't operate in a vacuum. People would rather watch a medical or legal drama than a drama about plumbers. Dealing directly with other people in high stakes situations lends itself to an entertaining show.

And even if most doctors/lawyers don't have a job as interesting as the stories depicted in Hollywood, they still don't have to get their hands dirty in the way that plumbers do. I'm also not sure that being a pediatrician or a dude who writes wills is considered high status, higher than a plumber sure, but not the same thing as being a specialty surgeon or a defense attorney.

Further, the circles that "high status" workers run in are more likely to include extremely successful/wealthy people due to friends made in college and grad school. The top 20 medical schools churn out over a thousand students per year, and some of those will surely go on to do high profile work.

Engineers are a bit of weird middle ground in this - computer nerds that run in elite circles (top schools, successful in SV, etc.) or that work in high stakes environments (mainly security) don't seem to be considered low status or ridiculed by the media. There may be a few nerd stereotypes mixed in, but if you watch enough medical or legal dramas you will find stereotypes for those professions too. Same goes for finance bros, cops, teachers, etc.

However, I agree a random computer nerd is considered somewhat low status. People that work in IT or are developers at random companies are looked at a bit more like tradespeople. It's not too surprising though that how hard a job is to get relates to its status.

Would the world be a better place if people stopped paying so much attention to status? Probably, I'm not saying that this perception of status is the right way to go about things, or even that the status "rankings" are rational. I'm just saying it is not caused by the media. Perhaps reinforced, but there are plenty of underlying reasons. Going to college was a high status thing even back when movies were still silent. Conversely, the US military has tried very hard to glorify itself in the media, but joining the military is still considered a low status thing to do.

Ya people worried about status always seem to be the people not in the trade.

Excluding the trades really tied to the oil industry or tough construction work… every debt-free plumber/carpenter/electrician/HVAC seems to be A-ok happy. If they have small businesses acumen, these types seem to be financial rocketships by their 30’s.

The plumber who is making more than a doctor is likely also a business owner. There are two skills needed there, the actual plumbing and also running a business. To be particularly successful, you need to be good at both.

The key bit here is that good business sense is oftentimes more important than your degree or even profession. A successful plumber, carpenter, electrician, etc who builds a large enough business can make millions of dollars per year.

It is hard to do that, but it is possible.

> A savvy tradesman these days (e.g. Plumber) can easily make more than most lawyers and even many physicians. I’ve cited that a lot when giving career advice to those being pressured into a college degree when it’s probably not the right fit for them.

Sure. A savvy football player can make more than most lawyers and many physicians, too. It's risky to make life decisions like this hoping that you'll be at the very top of the range for a particular profession. The vast majority of plumbers make less than even the median starting salary of lawyers in private firms.