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318 Mizuko ItoFigure 7.2Attic workbench where Zelan and his dad tinker with remote control aircraft and otherelectronics. Photo by Christo Sims, 2006.many of his peers will end up in similar careers as his parents and neighbors.In describing his “nerd” identity, Zelan differentiated his work trajectory fromthe one he imagines for his peers:But the jocks, they’re more into construction. And my group’s into the computers, andthe computer jobs where you have to do little to nothing to make your money. Everybodyelse is into hard labor and mechanics. That’s what the metalheads are in . . . they’rethe mechanics. And, you know, the computer nerds, I think they’ve got the best side ofit. ’Cause computers are spreading, if you can see, they’re everywhere in this room. Youknow, everybody’s houses are turning into that, and they’re just everywhere. And they’regonna be here. Before long houses are gonna be computers.For Zelan, being a “nerd” is a purposely unconventional path, one deeplyentangled with practical economic concerns. In embracing a nerd identity,he imagines an alternative life of work, one that sidesteps the expectation ofa career in manual labor. By entwining technology with an entrepreneurialtrajectory, Zelan echoes those who brought sluices and shovels, and thenhoses and hydraulics, to his region of California nearly 150 years before. Withthem, technology is implicated in an effort to bypass the gridlock of socialmobility, a partner for creatively prospecting the economic landscape.