absolutely not.
"the social group consisting primarily of people who are employed in unskilled or semi-skilled manual or industrial work."
""Working class" is a socioeconomic term used to describe persons in a social class marked by jobs that provide low pay, require limited skill, "
comparing software engineers with factory workers, etc. is incredibly out of touch. Most SE's wouldn't survive a week in hard labor work.
Respectfully, speak for yourself. This isn't as rare, or as difficult imo, as you think it is. I'm speaking from a lot of disadvantage. It is what it is.
> require limited skill
Isn't this site usually full of people whining about smooth talkers with no skill? I know I've whined a lot about that. Also is what it is. The world is only unforgiving to those with narrow perspectives.
Generally, what you do for a living isn't as significant as what you learn and do with the experience gained. It's your choice to commit to what you do, or you can keep growing. Up to you.
> The working class is classically defined as that class which must sell its labour-power in order to survive.[0]
It does go on to define working class as essentially blue collar workers, even highly skilled ones. Which would exclude software engineering.
Though I think it should include anyone for which they aren't earning enough to eventually become financially independent through their labour. This would then include quite a number of white collar workers. Certainly there are software engineers outside the silicon valley bubble for which this is true, especially in parts of Asia and India.
A good litmus test is if you feel you should join a union then you're probably working class and if you feel secure negotiating your own pay then you're probably not any more. Though I doubt this fits a traditional definition of working class.
[0]: https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority...
They do work in some sense. They manage resources and dispense expertise from time to time...
> own moderate to significant controlling portions of companies
... but it's a gray area because they're also part of the owning class
It's important to remember that if you're working for a living, you're still working class.