Again, when I was still in the Navy as a recruiter, most (not all, but most) kids would look down on someone like me who worked with their hands and wasn’t afraid to get dirty. Most of them thought they would go to college, get a degree in underwater basket weaving, then immediately get a corner office with a $100K salary. Hopefully some of them grew up when reality punched them in the mouth. But in my field, you don’t exactly have people beating down the door to get in, which is strange considering the pay, benefits, and job security I have are pretty damned good.
Look at the generation that raised these brats!
I understand. When I was in my previous employment, I observed that “professional” employees - most of whom had nothing to do with what the company actually produced - thought they were superior to the people who had spent 20 or 30 years developing products, selling, working with customers, etc.
Both types of employees are necessary, of course, but I think the prestige ought to go to the people who “do the business,” as it were, not to the overhead-type employees.