Growing up in the Bay, technology chatter permeated my life to the point that it became background noise. I unconsciously soaked up terms like IPO, scalability, and stock options. Mentions of a unicorn were more likely to be referencing the latest billion-dollar valuation as opposed to the mythical creature. Technology was always framed as a way to change the world for the better.
Alongside this techno-optimism, I learned the ways in which technology could fail, and fail in bigger ways for minorities and women. As a computer science student and early in my career as a software engineer, I believed that the best way to combat these inequities in tech was through diversity in the workforce. I was a teaching assistant for several CS classes and spent a lot of time thinking about how to retain as many students in CS as possible. I wanted to make sure my classes were accessible because I believed that having a diverse array of computer scientists would make products inherently better.
As a software engineer, I continued to work on bridging the hiring gap through mentoring and giving interviewing practice to underrepresented groups. At the same time, I learned more about how technology could impact women and minorities in outsized, negative ways. My focus shifted from problems like Face ID not recognizing Asian faces, which likely could have been avoided with a more diverse product team, to broader inequities like racial bias in bail-setting algorithms. Concurrently, I witnessed how powerful legislation such as GDPR is an effective tool to make change in technology in a big way. Despite technology moving at the speed of light, even the fastest company had to slow down and ensure they were compliant.
While I still believe that engineering and product teams should be as diverse as possible, my interest in technology policy work has grown. I see tech policy as a new way to influence the impact of technology on women and minorities, from a different angle and on a broader scale. I am excited to immerse myself in the policy world as a TechCongress fellow, and to help ensure that technology works ethically and equitably for all people.