Working harder doesn't always mean working more hours. After 8 hours sitting at a desk programming, sometimes I realize how lucky I am to not have to hand-load semis all day in a blistering hot distribution center. And then sometimes, after a particularly grueling programming session working on the same bug for 8 hours, I yearn for a day of work where I can shut my brain off and chuck some boxes.

'Harder' is subjective.

I have programmed, and I have worked in factories, such as a door factory.

Programming is 100% beyond a doubt harder. My brain is mush at the end of a good day of programming.

Making doors? Physically tired but mentally fine.. and I find the physical side was easier to recover from.

So I get the door making -> programming is "harder" and I make about 10x the money.. but I would not say it was 10x harder, maybe 1.3x harder.. so clearly programming is a better job for me than door making.

>I have programmed, and I have worked in factories

So have I, and I come to the opposite conclusion. Does my anecdote trump yours?

Having chucked boxes in my youth, and currently a programmer, I can relate. As my skills have improved over the years it doesn't happen as much, but there are still those moments where standing in the back of a 52' trailer, calling off tags, and making tidy stacks of electronics doesn't sound so bad.

As mindless as work like that tends to be, there is a kind of zen quality to it. I think the trick now is to find a hobby that lets me turn off the left side of by brain for a while to do something so simple, yet satisfying.

I have an alternate point of view: my desire to remain engaged in an interesting and problem is high so that anything resembling monotony quickly bores and frustrates me. I question what I had done wrong in a previous life to be condemned to a latter day Sysiphian punishment. This is primarily why I rail hard against processes - they appear as manifestly unjust punishment.

In my opinion, our brains have a way of painting the bad old days in a nostalgic light. I would posit that if you were forced by circumstances to chuck boxes for 8 hours a day with company-specified arrival and departure times plus company-specified breaks, you would not relish it. But that's just my opinion.