Writing code, decoding culture: digital skills and the promise of a fast lane to decent work among refugees and migrants in Berlin.
The digitisation of work poses global challenges but also offers new employment opportunities. This article explores the experiences of refugees and migrants who study at coding schools in Berlin to pursue digital careers. Attracted by the promise of coding as a fast lane to decent work, these newco...
| Published in: | Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies Vol. 48; no. 11; pp. 2642 - 2659 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Jun2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=157957380&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 157957380 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 1369183X 56F jtl: Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies issn: 1369183X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jun2022 vid: 48 iid: 11 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 157957380 10.1080/1369183X.2021.1893159 ppf: 2642 ppct: 17 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 1.1MB tig: atl: Writing code, decoding culture: digital skills and the promise of a fast lane to decent work among refugees and migrants in Berlin. aug: au: Rushworth, Philip Hackl, Andreas affil: School of Social and Political Science, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK su: Digitization Foreign workers Employment Refugees Job vacancies Labor market Computer programming education Berlin (Germany) sug: subj: Berlin (Germany) Digitization Foreign workers Employment Refugees Job vacancies Labor market Computer programming education keyword: coding digital labour Digital skills integration migrants refugees ab: The digitisation of work poses global challenges but also offers new employment opportunities. This article explores the experiences of refugees and migrants who study at coding schools in Berlin to pursue digital careers. Attracted by the promise of coding as a fast lane to decent work, these newcomers hope to circumvent barriers of the local labour market, such as the need for local language skills and accredited qualifications. But many coding students realise that the fast lane they have entered is not so fast after all, and that it is scattered with obstacles and uncertainties. The ostensibly inclusive tech sector emerges as highly competitive and demands total commitment, passion, and a 'culture fit': alongside learning to code, they must learn to decode the behavioural and cultural specifics of an international tech sector. Coding thereby becomes a digital extension of the demands and expectations of national integration. As migrants and refugees hope that digital skills will lead to decent work, respectability, and middle-class status, they experience a contradiction between aspirations that are said to be universal, because anyone can in theory succeed as a coder, and recurring experiences of discrimination and precarity. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2022 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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