I don't believe that's true in the US. Software works seems to be white collar. But I still make a point of referring to my fellow software people as 'software

I don't believe that's true in the US. Software works seems to be white collar. But I still make a point of referring to my fellow software people as 'software engineers', since (1) it's how my company styles the titles[1], and (2), it reinforces the idea that we're not "code monkeys", grunting and beating on keyboards for bananas per day (not that I'd turn down fruit if offered :-) ). [1] I work at a hardware/software company, we have an array of mechanical and electrical engineers as well.