<i>Even those less demanding BigCo jobs are often gated by a proxy IQ test</i><p>I&#x27;d be way of assuming that anybody working a blue-collar job has a low IQ.  There are lots of reasons people take the jobs they take, and IQ is only one of those reasons.  I would wager that there are a significant number of coal miners, plumbers, auto mechanics, etc. who are just as &quot;smart&quot; in the general sense as the average HN reader.  I obviously don&#x27;t know an exact percentage, but the stereotype that &quot;blue collar == dumb&quot; is definitely not valid as a generalization.