Looking Forward: Coding It Forward

This is one in a series of interviews for the 2018 Impact Challenge finalists at Business Today’s 44th International Conference.

For a college student pursuing a career in tech, there seems to be one set path: get a secure job at Facebook or Google. However, Coding It Forward (CIF), a startup initiated by Harvard student Chris Kuang and Wellesley College graduate Rachel Dodell, gives students interested in tech another option. Instead of pairing up students with tech jobs in tech industries, CIF gives talented techies the opportunity to intern inside prestigious government institutions, such as the U.S Census Bureau. Ariana Soto, the Project Manager, states that opportunities that are able to break boundaries and test accepted beliefs of career paths, are so valuable in shaping the lives of young students. Indeed, over 15% of participants returned to work in a public policy related field, which, according to Kuang, is a high conversion rate. It seems, according to product manager Christine Jou and Community Manager Emily Fong that it is the transparency of their work, in conjunction with the new concept of using tech to directly affect positive change on people’s lives, that makes CIF so appealing.