After finishing my undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science and statistics at Stanford, I felt jaded by the materialistic culture of Silicon Valley. I knew I wanted to pursue something mission-driven, so I spent the better part of a year working on political campaigns. As a Deputy Data Director on Jon Ossoff’s run-off campaign for U.S. Senate, I utilized technology to support program staff and facilitate mobilization efforts where I helped bring over 160,000 voters in the campaign’s relational network to the polls. The tools we built allowed staff to focus their energy on getting out the vote, rather than on repetitive, manual tasks – in other words, we helped “modernize” the campaign’s operations.
My campaign experiences made me realize the value of technologists in non-technical environments. I have always been interested in policy; TechCongress offered me an incredible opportunity to realize that value in the legislative branch. As a 2021 TechCongress Congressional Innovation Scholar on the House Oversight Government Operations Subcommittee, I think about modernization at the enterprise-level, considering ways to incentivize the government to adopt projects like those I completed on Jon Ossoff’s run-off campaign. The work is difficult, but I stay motivated knowing its potential reach and impact.
During my short tenure on the Hill so far, I’ve become convinced that policy is only as good as its implementation, and that technology (along with good technologists who can build it) is one key to this implementation. Poor implementation means fewer people access the services they need and ultimately contributes to government distrust. As a TechCongress Scholar, I get to explore how policy can nudge the government towards more customer-centric service delivery so that the policies that strive to make lives easier actually do.
I’m grateful to TechCongress for kick-starting my career in the public sector. In only two months, I’ve learned more about government than I could have ever imagined, and I’m excited for what’s to come.