“Ask Me Anything” with Former Civic Digital Fellows
By: Chris Kuang
Tags: Coding It Forward, Civic Digital Fellowship, Civic Tech, Internships, Fellowship

What are your personal favorite memories and experiences from your Fellowship working in civic tech — work-related or not?

“My favorite work experiences were the meetings where I got to see exactly how important were the projects I had been working on throughout the summer. I worked on COVID-19 analytics at the US Department of Health and Human Services and got to see first hand how my code impacted our government’s strategy towards combating the pandemic.”

— Ajay Jain, Department of Health and Human Services, Summer 2020

“Although my experience helping with the State.gov redesign was super interesting and valuable, I would say my favorite experiences of the Fellowship happened outside our day-to-day work at our agencies. I really enjoyed getting to know my fellow Fellows, who were an amazing group of people from across the country with a similar passion for using their technical skills to create a positive impact for the public (as well as just a really kind and fun group of people). I also thought Coding it Forward did a great job putting together programming throughout the summer, giving us the opportunity to do things like have Q&A sessions with the teams at the U.S. Digital Service and 18F, go on tours the Pentagon and the Capitol, and get matched with an experienced mentor outside our agency who could help advise us throughout the program.”

—Nora Benson, Department of State, Summer 2018

What’s the general work environment like working in a government agency? Does it feel intimidating or was it easy to get comfortable and get into the flow of things?

“I found it really exciting to work in government; there was a systems thinking, big picture approach to tackling problems that I hadn’t seen anywhere else I’d worked. The people I worked with were super innovative, brilliant, and mission-driven, and they went out of their way to make sure I felt comfortable, supported, and that I tackled things that were important to me.”

— Maia Materman, National Institutes of Health, Fall 2020

“The staff on my team were genuinely excited about my presence and made me feel that my skills were a valuable addition. I easily got into the flow of team meetings and communicating with others and felt respected immediately. The one challenging piece was that if I had a question that was unable to be answered by my immediate team, it took longer than expected to find the person to answer my question and get a response back from them.”

— Tony Goss, Census Bureau, Fall 2020

“My team was incredibly welcoming at the Census Bureau. We had small meetings throughout the day to discuss the next steps of our project, which involved automating the industry classification code assignment process for businesses in the Economic Census, as well as weekly check-ins to give updates and refine our broader goals. I have fond memories of working together with members of my team in a conference room on the 5th floor of the Census building, laughing and bouncing ideas off one another. I quickly became comfortable with asking for help when I didn’t understand a technical concept, where to pull certain pieces of data, or felt lost when jumping into a new problem. There were definitely moments of frustration that come with trying to implement technical solutions in a bureaucratic, high-security environment, but my mentors went out of their way to ensure I was met with as little friction as possible, which made me feel incredibly supported and allowed me and my co-fellow to make significant progress on our project in a single summer.”

— Lan Zhang, Census Bureau, Summer 2019

What was most surprising about your Fellowship experience?

“I was pleasantly surprised by the inherent collaborative and interdisciplinary focus of my work at the Census Bureau. My project included routinely connecting with stakeholders across government agencies including the Federal Reserve Board and Bureau of Economic Analysis to seek feedback from statisticians, economists, and technical researchers. I was able to better contextualize the impact of my data science-focused work by connecting with experts familiar with the business and revenue product I was tasked with expanding.”

—DJ Jain, Census Bureau, Summer 2020

“I was most surprised by the dearth of software engineers and data scientists around me. The project I was working on was moving slowly because there weren’t people with the technical skills to move it along. I realized how valuable the other Fellows and I were to our respective teams and how the government really does need more technologists.”

— Tony Goss, Census Bureau, Fall 2020

What did you struggle with during the Fellowship?

“I really struggled with imposter syndrome the entire summer I was at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The fact of the matter was that I just didn’t have the same level of experience as many of the other Fellows. At work, I was working with USDS developers who all came from Amazon, Google, Facebook, and all these big tech companies with years of experience. Then coming home to a group of extremely talented Fellows who were all stellar in their respective areas was definitely a challenge. There were so many moments where I would look around and realize just how much more technically knowledgeable everyone around me was, and I’d just have a mini existential crisis. But at some point during summer, I had a conversation with one of my friends from school who told me to stop looking at everyone as a comparison point and instead start looking at them as teachers and mentors who can provide me the knowledge I don’t have yet. Since then, I’ve tried to take that advice with me wherever I go.”

— R Matthews, Veterans Affairs (USDS), Summer 2018

“Coming from academia, I found the new 9–5 pace, including a long commute to and from the Census Bureau, to be exhausting. In the beginning, I was trying to work on my Ph.D. thesis in the mornings before work, but it was just totally unsustainable. I learned how to value my time away from work in a new way, and made sure that I was getting the rest that I needed to do work that I was proud of. The first few weeks of exhaustion reminded me that I needed to be kind to myself while I was in such a new and exciting environment and that there would be ample time later to work on my thesis.”

—Noam Kantor, Census Bureau, Summer 2019

How did your experiences in the Fellowship prepare you for future opportunities?

“The Civic Digital Fellowship helped me get to where I am today! During the Fellowship, I learned so much about how government works and the challenges that come with bringing in new technology. One of the key skills I took away was how to work with non-technical people and finding ways to explain complicated concepts at a high level. This proved especially valuable now that I am working as a data scientist at the Department of Health and Human Services. My managers don’t have the time or technical background to get into the weeds of my projects, but they do want to be updated when a decision needs to be made or updated. My job is to create an agenda or presentation that shows only what’s most important to them, leaving out the technical details that I’m responsible for implementing. I’m very grateful that my CDF experience taught me to navigate this unique work environment.”

—Avena Cheng, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Summer 2019

“I can say with confidence that my experience as a Civic Digital Fellow was the experience that got me where I am now in civic tech and tech policy. There are two main reasons for that. First of all, the Fellowship was really technically rigorous and involved a deep dive into Federal agencies; people around the civic tech world also know this and so being in the Fellowship definitely gives you a step up in that way aside from the training itself. Second, the CDF team did an amazing job organizing site visits to federal agencies and civic tech companies. For me, the visit to the Federal Trade Commission fundamentally changed my career trajectory by helping me reimagine how my skills could be used in service of a fairer country.”

— Noam Kantor, Census Bureau, Summer 2019

“During my Fellowship, I worked on a challenging technical problem for the Census Bureau that forced me to rapidly pick up new skills and tools, and learn how to effectively leverage them to complete the project. Along with some handy new tricks for Python and machine learning, that sense of hustle stuck with me and has made me a better developer and team player.”

— Raanan Gurewitsch, Census Bureau, Summer 2019

Did you know you definitely wanted to pursue civic tech before the Fellowship?

“The short answer is no! Before applying, I had never even heard of civic tech. I just knew that I wanted to explore more diverse paths in software engineering beyond traditional tech companies. Definitely, no worries if you feel unsure about what path to pursue, or if you’re like me a few months back and aren’t familiar with civic tech. Think of the Fellowship as an exploratory experience for finding if/how you thrive in civic tech—it’s a great learning opportunity where you no prior knowledge is required.”

— Sophie Chhour Kaplan, Census Bureau, Fall 2020

What influenced you to choose the Fellowship instead of the private sector?

“From a young age and throughout college, I’ve been interested in pursuing work related to public service and social good. However, I found it hard to find opportunities that combined my engineering background with social impact work throughout my academic career. I was so excited to find CDF and to be given the opportunity to directly apply my tech skills to impactful public sector work. I think we are living in an unprecedented time, politically, societally, and environmentally. I also think that technologists (and particularly young technologists) have the opportunity and responsibility to rise to the moment and get involved in impactful work. While there are many ways to do impactful work, civic tech is an exciting place to be right now (with lots of very cool people!).”

— Natalie Gable, National Institutes of Health, Summer 2020

“I have always had an interest in government and politics. Previous to choosing the tech route, I had considered studying government. However, once I started attending a school in the Bay Area, the only organizations that students are really exposed to are Silicon Valley companies and startups. When a colleague of mine shared this Fellowship, it felt like it was meant to be. I applied almost that same day. There is nothing wrong with choosing to go the private sector route, and most technologists that end up in government do a mix of both throughout their career, but the privilege to serve your country and fellow people with your technical skills is a privilege I could not trade for anything.”

— Carlos Eduardo Ortega, Census Bureau, Summer 2019

What new perspectives did working for the government give you?

“As a technologist, it can be easy to develop a savior complex as ‘solving problems [for other people].’ My time in government shined a light on the point that government and people working in government are not people who need to be ‘helped’. With the complexity of government, it’s not possible for a few technologists and designers to solve all the problems in government; that would neither be sustainable nor welcome. One of the greatest values that a technologist can bring is listening, sharing knowledge about tech, and hacking the bureaucracy to support government stewards in designing services better.”

—Neve Foresti, Census Bureau, Fall 2020

“Working in government has reshaped how I view the role that government can have in Americans’ lives. When government works well — when it is efficient, innovative, collaborative, well-resourced, and accountable — it is capable of having a transformative impact on the lives of Americans in a way that no other institution in our society can. There are thousands of public servants working to make that vision a reality and reimagine the potential of government, and as a Civic Digital Fellow at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, I feel fortunate to have contributed to those efforts.”

—Daniel Zhao, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Summer 2019

“The government is criticized a lot for being technologically behind with the times, and indeed in many ways, it is. However, the image portrayed is one of government workers that are stuck in their ways and out of touch with modern technologies. The Census Bureau proved otherwise. There are many government workers pushing the agency forwards and sparking up new initiatives. The Census Bureau has this weird and amazing mix of energy between old government and a new startup. Census workers would host Python and GIS workshops with one another, and many professors and experts will come down to host talks during the summer. My summer with CDF at the Census showed me that although some parts of government are a bit stale, they are working forwards, and it was a privilege to be a part of it.”

— Carlos Eduardo Ortega, Census Bureau, Summer 2019

How did your view of technology’s role in our world broaden or change?

“I had the privilege of working at the Census Bureau while it was preparing for its first-ever online decennial census. It’s easy to trivialize the implementation of digital services — we so casually interact with them that it’s mundane. But the challenges of building a digitally administered Census are broad and complex: how can we hold equity, accessibility, and security central to its design? Could a digital census amplify the exclusion of people in remote communities with poor broadband or non-digital natives? And how can we ensure the responsible use of this personal data? It was incredible to watch the Bureau mobilize to address these pressing problems, to build not only the online form but also the disclosure avoidance tools to protect this sensitive data. Building good tech requires an understanding of the social and systemic context it operates within — at a national scale, it’s no easy task.”

—Kiran Wattamwar, Census Bureau, Summer 2019

“Throughout the Fellowship, I was able to sign up for CDF webinars with individuals working or leading Public Interest Tech (PIT) organizations. Having the opportunity to engage in conversations with folks heavily involved in PIT in an intimate setting was an eye-opening experience. Upsolve, Dreambound (previously Ladder), Propel, Nava, USDS, and Code for America are a few of the many organizations that have broadened my views on technology’s role in the world and have shown me the different niches that technology can be applied to make a positive difference. I also learned about the huge presence of PIT on Twitter through CDF and highly encourage following Coding it Forward and the organizations mentioned above to learn more and keep updated on the PIT space.”

—Nithi Subbaian, General Services Administration, Summer 2020