It's a trade in Germany. I left school after 10th grade and started my apprenticeship in programming. The net effect is that at 29 i've now been a professional programmer for 12 years.
More importantly, I also developed all my programming habits during my formative years and therefore developed pretty good habits that are now hard wired and second nature. It gives me a huge edge over other programmers of my age who have been joining the work force over the last few years.
The huge difference being that in Germany you have functional apprenticeship programs. In the US, which this article is centric to, you're really just going to go to college, have little option besides CS, and then end up somewhere in the chasm of this debate.
Trade schools exist, but since they're generally looked down upon you're not going to see a lot of popularity in Programming Trade degrees. Though perhaps the only difference between programming and metal craftsmen is that CS is more obviously popular and valuable these days. P only might equal NP so computers and robots haven't yet taken over the job of crafting programs.
This is meant to be a lot less a critique of programming and a lot more a nod toward the intense craft that goes into many of the things you might learn as a "trade". The general skill to build something physical and high quality is so frequently looked down upon these days.
More importantly, I also developed all my programming habits during my formative years and therefore developed pretty good habits that are now hard wired and second nature. It gives me a huge edge over other programmers of my age who have been joining the work force over the last few years.