The Digital Corps: A proposed next step for young public interest technologists

Going into college, I knew that I was interested in civic engagement and public policy, but at the same time, I also had this curiosity about all things technology. I thought that these two interests would remain mutually exclusive—that I’d have to pick one or the other—for the longest time. It wasn’t until I took “Technology and Innovation in Government”—a field course, with real government partners and projects, taught by Professor Nick Sinai—that I came to learn about the field of civic technology (also known as public interest technology).

That eye-opening experience led me to co-found the nonprofit Coding it Forward in January 2017 with the mission to inspire and empower other young people with technology skills to consider opportunities in social impact and public service. Since then—working alongside my co-founder and Coding it Forward Executive Director Rachel Dodell and Director of Strategic Initiatives Ariana Soto—it has been rewarding to see the incredible growth of mission-aligned organizations like Hack4Impact, Design for America, and PIT-UN engaging students and young people across the country.

This grassroots energy on campuses—both student-led initiatives and those with institutional support from universities and foundations—has translated into opportunities for students to dip their toes in the water of public interest technology through internships and apprenticeship programs like those sponsored by Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy and Nava PBC.

Along these lines, Coding it Forward launched the Civic Digital Fellowship in the summer of 2017 to give mission-driven software engineers, data scientists, product managers, and designers the opportunity to serve in high-impact roles in the federal government, and the program has since grown from our inaugural cohort of 14 at the U.S. Census Bureau to one that has placed over 200 students in five cohorts at 11 federal agencies. To date, Fellows’ work has cumulatively saved agencies millions of dollars, cut years from production timelines, and made agencies more effective and efficient in fulfilling their missions on behalf of the American people.

We’ve seen through the Fellowship that this first taste of service leads to young people wanting more. In just one example, over one-third of Coding it Forward’s Summer 2020 Fellows continued working at their host agencies after the program’s end in some capacity—whether full-time or part-time as they returned to school.

But unfortunately, there is still a significant gap between these internship programs and mid-career hiring by groups like the U.S. Digital Service and Presidential Innovation Fellows. There are too few opportunities for recent college graduates to use their technology skills in government without having to wait five or ten years.

This gap is what led Nick Sinai and I to co-author a Day One Project policy proposal suggesting that the Biden Administration launch a “Digital Corps” — a two-year, rotational fellowship for recent college graduates to tackle high-leverage technology projects in the federal government, with skills like software engineering, data science, and design.

The Digital Corps would help the federal government capitalize on the energy and excitement that we’ve seen from students and entry-level technologists and build a deeper bench of federal technology talent at a time when the existing workforce skews older by a significant amount (for every one federal IT employee under the age of 30, there are 4.5 employees over the age of 60 according to a recent report of the Federal CIO Council). The timing could not be more urgent, either. The coronavirus pandemic and recent cyberattack have revealed significant needs when it comes to our nation’s technology infrastructure—gaps that can be filled in part by the hundreds, if not thousands, of mission-driven technologists that a Digital Corps could recruit.

We’ve seen the success of Coding it Forward’s Civic Digital Fellowship and programs like it, and the proposed Digital Corps can build on this progress to allow many more young technologists to serve early in their careers.

If you are interested in learning more about the Digital Corps proposal if and when information becomes available, fill out this form.

Coding it Forward is accepting applications for its Summer 2021 cohort of Civic Digital Fellows until January 24th. Learn more at cdf21.com/about. Subscribe to Coding it Forward’s newsletter to stay in the loop about new opportunities and resources curated for students and entry-level technologists in social impact and civic tech.