I used this analogy myself the other day, and it's how I often explain software development to people who have been led to believe that computers are some deep mystery that could never be understood by the common man.

However there is one important difference between software developers and car mechanics, and that is that our work is in cyberspace so it can be effortlessly duplicated and sold a million times over. Car mechanics operate in meatspace, so in order to get paid they need to keep on fixing cars. A software developer could fix just one virtual car and then keep earning money forever thanks to intellectual property laws. It doesn't seem like equal pay for equal work.

Thinking about it this way has led me to become more skeptical of intellectual property laws. Software development isn't especially more difficult than any other skill, but we are disproportionately rewarded for it due arbitrary legal constructs. It seems like the industry has a vested interest in giving the impression that what we do is impossibly complicated. If more people realized the truth, there might be a stronger call to abolish or at least reduce the terms of copyright, patents and so on.

I used to be a mechanic and the analogy fits. Rich people drive into the shop and bark at you to "just fix it." They don't care about any of the minutia but it had better work they way they envision it working. Then they throw you a few pennies and drive off.

Where were you a mechanic that it only cost “a few pennies”? I feel like I get bled dry every time I take my car in...

Mechanics work ungodly hours and deal with very painful situations and barely make a living wage that can support a family. You feel like you are getting bled dry because the service does not scale. A highly trained professional has to focus on your problem until it is fixed and the solution is often very time consuming. Insurance costs are high and so are labor and material costs. It doesn't mean the mechanics are making a killing. The owners are often well off though. Hiring more mechanics scales for them.

That makes sense. Thanks for sharing your perspective.

I don't know myself, but if the big expense is parts not salary, both can be true. The vehicle manufacturer would be the one capturing the profits of the overpriced band-name parts.

"We need to decide if software is a car to be driven or an essay to be written." - Alan Kay

He goes on, of course, to argue that the car analogy is the wrong one.

Oh wow - do you have a reference to the original?