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9781439925782

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""Canaries in the Code Mine comes at a time when an exploration of high-skilled precarious workers has become essential to understand the contemporary labor condition.... What the author does well is use life experiences of actual workers as evidence to illuminate the invisible inequality and to break through underlying assumptions about merit and deservingness that is part of the dominant work culture. The judicious use of quotes and personal descriptions lends credence to the voice of workers, around which the central discourse of this book is built. Methodologically, the use of interviews and observations with a 'show and tell' approach makes the book an easy and interesting read.""--ILR Review ""Canaries in the Code Mine is an important and timely contribution to the study of precarious work. Through vivid portrayals of the work lives of software engineers, Max Papadantonakis engagingly shows how even some of the most culturally valued and highly paid workers face insecurity and instability. Within this workforce, women, people of color, and older employees are disproportionally more likely to be laid off and vulnerable to being replaced by artificial intelligence.""--Alexandre Frenette, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University ""Bringing interview-based insights to the field of critical technology studies, Papadantonakis provides an intersectional analysis, going beyond the tired stereotypes about 'tech bros' to discuss the ways that various forms of inequality and precarity produce differential experiences in software development. After worker-led gains during a time of growth and expansion in tech, we have sharply pivoted from a techlash to a tech crash. Canaries in the Code Mine offers a glimpse of how workers are faring on the ground--the focus on ageism in the industry is especially refreshing--and how assumptions about the elite status of software engineers are not always accurate.""--Tamara Kneese, Director of the Climate, Technology, and Justice Program at the Data & Society Research Institute, and author of Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond

""Canaries in the Code Mine comes at a time when an exploration of high-skilled precarious workers has become essential to understand the contemporary labor condition.... What the author does well is use life experiences of actual workers as evidence to illuminate the invisible inequality and to break through underlying assumptions about merit and deservingness that is part of the dominant work culture. The judicious use of quotes and personal descriptions lends credence to the voice of workers, around which the central discourse of this book is built. Methodologically, the use of interviews and observations with a 'show and tell' approach makes the book an easy and interesting read.""--ILR Review ""Canaries in the Code Mine is an important and timely contribution to the study of precarious work. Through vivid portrayals of the work lives of software engineers, Max Papadantonakis engagingly shows how even some of the most culturally valued and highly paid workers face insecurity and instability. Within this workforce, women, people of color, and older employees are disproportionally more likely to be laid off and vulnerable to being replaced by artificial intelligence.""--Alexandre Frenette, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University ""Bringing interview-based insights to the field of critical technology studies, Papadantonakis provides an intersectional analysis, going beyond the tired stereotypes about 'tech bros' to discuss the ways that various forms of inequality and precarity produce differential experiences in software development. After worker-led gains during a time of growth and expansion in tech, we have sharply pivoted from a techlash to a tech crash. Canaries in the Code Mine offers a glimpse of how workers are faring on the ground--the focus on ageism in the industry is especially refreshing--and how assumptions about the elite status of software engineers are not always accurate.""--Tamara Kneese, Director of the Climate, Technology, and Justice Program at the Data & Society Research Institute, and author of Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond ""Drawing from 120 interviews conducted both pre- and post-pandemic, the book explores how privilege and vulnerability can coexist in a role that is often perceived as stable within the tech industry.... Papadantonakis makes a strong argument, demonstrating why it is critical for researchers to understand what these workers are experiencing, as these challenges are indicative of larger economic issues both within the tech sector and in the larger US labor market.... An excellent overview of the broad challenges in the technological labor market.... Summing Up: Highly recommended.""--Choice

""Canaries in the Code Mine is an important and timely contribution to the study of precarious work. Through vivid portrayals of the work lives of software engineers, Max Papadantonakis engagingly shows how even some of the most culturally valued and highly paid workers face insecurity and instability. Within this workforce, women, people of color, and older employees are disproportionally more likely to be laid off and vulnerable to being replaced by artificial intelligence.""--Alexandre Frenette, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University ""Bringing interview-based insights to the field of critical technology studies, Papadantonakis provides an intersectional analysis, going beyond the tired stereotypes about 'tech bros' to discuss the ways that various forms of inequality and precarity produce differential experiences in software development. After worker-led gains during a time of growth and expansion in tech, we have sharply pivoted from a techlash to a tech crash. Canaries in the Code Mine offers a glimpse of how workers are faring on the ground--the focus on ageism in the industry is especially refreshing--and how assumptions about the elite status of software engineers are not always accurate.""--Tamara Kneese, Director of the Climate, Technology, and Justice Program at the Data & Society Research Institute, and author of Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond

Author Information

Max Papadantonakis is Assistant Professor of Sociology in the Department of Social Sciences and Global Studies at California State University, Monterey Bay.

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