Perhaps this is just an artifact of living in the Bay Area. Do others hear this same sentiment? I think there's a crucial bit of context missing here. I live i

Perhaps this is just an artifact of living in the Bay Area. Do others hear this same sentiment? I think there's a crucial bit of context missing here. I live in Chile and I can tell you that most (but not all) of the places at which I've worked treat programmers as second-class employees. Here are some extreme perceptions I've witnessed at some of my jobs: we are either incompetent or overpaid; we have to be monitored and managed correctly, otherwise we'll slack away and/or engage in miscellaneous mischief; we never get things done on time, within the budget or the way the users want them; in other words, we're just a sinkhole for money. On the other hand, if you talk to a non-technical person outside the workplace context, they'll usually react the way you describe it. I think that, in the end, it all depends on the culture, both corporate and general.