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The analogy of software developers as craftsmen has become very popular. I don't know where it started, but the first book I read about it was the excellent book The Pragmatic Programmer by Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas. I really liked this analogy, it seemed right. A few years later, Pete McBreen released the book Software Craftsmanship, where he articulates that software development should be more like craftsmanship. Pete writes eloquently about programming masters that should be paid ten times more than their apprentices because they are at least ten times more effective. The masters also have the responsibility to take on journeymen and apprentices to train in their particular flavor of software development. This also rang very true to me. But, there is something fishy with this analogy. Something ain't right!