Recently, someone started a post about whether cabling a new office was a valid IT task, which got some of us talking about IT as white collar versus blue collar, and that it might depend on the particular job.
Then, browsing the internet, I discovered that there are more collar colors than that. I had no idea.
Blue Collar – manual / physical labor (bricklayer)
Gold Collar – legal / medical jobs (lawyer, doctor)
Gray Collar – officially white, but many blue tasks (engineer)
Green Collar – conservation / sustainability jobs (park ranger)
Pink Collar – service jobs (waiters, receptionists, teachers)
White Collar – administrative / office work (technical writer)
So, for our poll today, tell us what color(s) your collar is.
What color is your collar?
- Blue Collar
- Gold Collar
- Gray Collar
- Green Collar
- Pink Collar
- White Collar
- None – No labels for me, thanks
- Other, tell us below
As always, if I left anything out, or if you have a story to share, let us know below. 
29 Spice ups
I submit that grey also denotes indicates sneaky IT shenanigans, neither black or white actions specifically.
18 Spice ups
cruus
(Cruus)
3
Gray describes it well. There can be all-admin days, and days that are completely devoted to facilities work. White with blue polka dots would paint the whole picture
22 Spice ups
Regrettably it is all white collar these days. Though there are flashes of gold - lawyer when arguing contract details with the customer or child psychologist when dealing with childishness. And of course days when it feels like a red collar - the equivalent of the infamous red shirt on Star Trek.
20 Spice ups
Defintely gray. Some days I do nothing but manage my team other days I’m out in the field with them because a department waits until the last minute and we have to get the infrastructure up and going as soon as possible. Currently understaffed but upper level sees us as over staffed and can’t seem to get them to see or understand everything that we do.
10 Spice ups
Samael1
(Samael1)
6
Dirty, as we all end up doing something that is outside of Job remit
12 Spice ups
dwo1064
(dwo1064)
8
Mostly white these days, with virtualization and cloud.
Before those, there was an awful lot of Blue/Grey activities.
6 Spice ups
Red - because we are the necessary red-headed stepchildren.
9 Spice ups
cpguru21
(cpguru21)
10
based on descriptions here, gray collar. But we treat almost everyone the same at my office. From supervisor to the cleaning guy. All equal. Only the CEO is looked at a little different but he works hard to make sure we see him as an equal.
Would have said blue collar prior to reading about other collars.
7 Spice ups
Typically white collar and gold collar people look down on lower collars, but I have a disdain for someone who considers himself/herself a technical professional and looks down on tasks like pulling cables.
9 Spice ups
Light blue or striped blue/white (or one color with polka dots of the other as someone suggested) makes more sense than gray. But whatever is chosen to designate that, it’sa me, Milesio!
5 Spice ups
White with gray pinstripes…mostly because I still like doing some of the “blue collar” tasks, so I make sure that I get to do some of those things.
2 Spice ups
Steve6343
(Steve6343)
14
I guess in this context, I am very much “grey” collared although in real life, the majority of my work shirts (generally worn with a matching tie, I am a manager after all) are actually blue.
Oh the irony.
3 Spice ups
We have found that most vendors struggle to deliver the quality of work we expect. Therefore we handle a lot of things in house (mounting cameras, installing cabling and fiber, going up the water tower to service P2P dishes, ETC). Definitely takes away from bragging rights of white collar IT however it keeps every week fresh and new!
7 Spice ups
When I saw the poll, I thought, “I’ll be shocked if the vast majority doesn’t select “gray””. I am pleased to not be shocked. No matter what color you associate it with, “Information Technology” isn’t just typing, and I question the legitimacy of anyone who has zero experience dealing with hardware saying they’re in “IT”.
7 Spice ups
NULL
(NULL)
17
I guess I am pretty much a rainbow collar worker, since at some time or another I do all of these things.
7 Spice ups
Gray with pink stripes for sure.
5 Spice ups
Dalden
(DaldenDAE)
19
For all of us in one person shops, outnumbered 50/1, who have spent days racking up security devices, showing someone where that icon is now, that they are on Win 11, and running fiber across the ceiling on a boom-lift (till you have sea-legs). Might we have a collar in Blue, gray and white plaid please?
8 Spice ups
Lime Green, because Lime Green
3 Spice ups
