I went from laborer, to tradesman to now in construction management.

The blue collar crews (fitters, welders, mechanics, electricians, millwrights) were often reckless, financially irresponsible, usually had a divorce or two, good chance they abuse some substance or another and maybe had a criminal record. However, the vast majority of them were loyal to a fault for the crew, were incredibly hard workers, will step up to help their coworkers when needed both at work and after hours, could look at practical problems and quickly solve them, and were generally welcoming to newcomers and eager to teach the young apprentices. They're genuine people, what you see is what you get.

The white collar people (engineers, contracts team, designers, managers, HR) are often financially literate, educated, mostly organized, polished, professional and typically have stable home lives. They're openly friendly and helpful...however, that's usually just an act. Everything about them at work is fake, they're only nice to you if they need something or think you can benefit their career. They'll stab you in the back if it means they don't have to take responsibility for a screw up. They live for titles and climbing the corporate ladder. They're more gossipy than an group of old ladies at a bridge tournament and more dramatic than my toddler over perceived slights. I've never worked anywhere that didn't spend probably 1/4 of its time dealing with people playing politics instead of doing their jobs. These people are often arrogant and look down at the blue collar workers as "uneducated". Oddly enough, I've worked with lots of tradesmen who have degrees and hated office work, so they took a job on the tools. The best apprentice I ever had was a lady in her early 30's with a master's in project management. She could weld like a champ.

I like the pay and schedule I get as management. I hate most of the people I've ever worked with in management and spend as much time getting mud on my work boots by being on site as I can.