What blue color job is most comparable to SW Engineering?

[nuancebydefault]

While performing my job as a software engineer, I often ask myself, why is this job so hard? You need to keep on studying to be able to do it properly. If it is not language features or paradigms, it is understanding the concepts used in existing code, or trying to understand the math behind some algorithm you need. Or it is digging deeper and deeper in code while chasing a bug. Never it is simply applying the knowledge and skills you already have, even after many years of experience. Then I compare my job to a craftsman like a carpenter or someone who works in construction. How comparable, or not, is it to a software engineering job? Is there a blue color job that gets close in terms of needing to use new knowledge and skills just to be able to execute the job? Don't get me wrong, I like this job, and it is very satisfying at times when one makes steady progress and one can be passionated, even absorbed by it. Do you relate, or is it simply me? I chose blue color in the question because otherwise I would probably get an answer like "any type of engineering".

[tlb]

Fewer and fewer. A major goal of engineering is to design systems that can be maintained with the least possible training. For instance, modern auto mechanics don't need to know that much about car systems because they can read out fault codes and replace whole assemblies. Maintaining pre-WWII cars required a lot more experience.

It's only in low-volume applications that there aren't manuals and procedures for everything. Factory robotics is one example I know about. Installing systems and getting them to work reliably is both hands-on and deeply technically challenging.

[nuancebydefault → tlb]

Well that's also a bit my point, if a software engineer gets a bug from the field, they cannot simply say, oh this software module is broken, so I replace it by a new one. Also/even revising e.g. an engine is more of a routine than 'revising' a piece of software.

[Normille]

I think you mean "blue collar"

[flamesofphx]

<Wish_My_Response_Was_Sarcasm> ==> Waste Processing engineer (Or landfill Architect, aka garbage man)... 1. Deals with lot of trash.. 2. Requires Optimizing routes and sorting on the backend... 3. Hears lots of complaining if something goes down or doesn't work... 4. Continuous wishes for a better more efficient process. 5. Wishes and dreams are never budgeted for because the existing process currently works.

[physhster]

Aerospace or nuclear engineering? And for DevOps/SRE possibly Aircraft Maintenance Technician? High stakes, high complexity...

[nuancebydefault → physhster]

Aircraft maintenance? I would expect they work very strictly by the book, check, if broken, fix, check next, rinse and repeat?

[physhster → nuancebydefault]

More like the plane is broken and you have to do everything possible to make sure it can fly on time and not kill the passengers...