The car mechanic analogy is an interesting one that I came across while touring universities to find one that I liked. A parent at one of the Q&A sessions asked what the difference was between Computing and IT (in a UK education context). The degree director replied that an IT course is like learning to drive a car, whereas Computing is like learning to be a mechanic. (Context: IT classes pre-university used to consist of learning to use Word, Excel and Powerpoint.) So I suppose whether the analogy works depends whether you want your programmer to find and plug a hole in your exhaust pipe, or to work out how to make a more efficient catalytic converter.