Link for Toasting Women Who Tech:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hitachi-center-presents-toasting-women-who-tech-2021-with-ann-mei-chang-tickets-147889963863

It turned out there were many more than just few of you!

https://slate.com/technology/2015/12/the-dangers-of-enlisting-algorithms-in-statecraft.html

Upturn: https://www.upturn.org

Tabinda wrote her capstone about Mobile Money in Pakistan looking at the role of regulation

Sameer was awarded a Hitachi Center Summer Student Capstone Research grant for his work at ITU last summer

These events are part of the tech club’s spring break career trek that Neil p lanned

Thank you all. As the technology field is dynamic and rapidly changing, what specific ways have you seen Fletcher intentionally being proactive and adapting to stay on the forefront.

What prior knowledge do I need in computer science and/or programming prior to coming to Fletcher?

^

Thank you for organising the session. Very helpful. Could I speak and ask my Q? (I raised my hand)

First, could you share if the tech policy field introduces students to how a technology works or develops? I am a lawyer in India, and working on tech policy, but also interested in learning more about technology itself. Second. is fintech part of the course yet?

Thank you, very helpful to hear from all of you. Could you say a bit more about the types of jobs and employers Fletcher Tech and IA graduates typically end up at? Are there any specific companies, nonprofits, etc. that the program has strong relationships with, whether that's for research projects, internships, or job placement?

I would say that you don't "need" technical knowledge (coding, programming) to get involved in tech oriented jobs. While there's no pre-requisite, it definitely helps!

Thank you!

What did students/alums in this field of study chose their other concentration?

how*

Agree with Neil! I knew a teeny bit of HTML but that was not instrumental at all in any of the policy work I’ve been doing :)

Only one class that I know of at Fletcher has a pre-req of a single programming class. I wanted to take the class and didn’t have the pre-req so I took a course at Harvard called ‘programming for policy makers’ other students will audit the undergrad intro to CS class to get the experience!

None of the Fletcher courses on tech policy have any programming prereqs (there are exceptions in the CS dept, if you want to take computer science for future policy-makers, for instance); we do cover a fair bit of technical material in those classes (how the Internet works, how encryption works, etc.) but without any expectation of a background in that material

Thanks, all. Could folks speak to Fletcher’s Boston location as a differentiator with regards to tech ecosystems, for example the facility of engaging with the biotech community, other academia, etc. Thanks again

As someone with no background in programming, I took a course at Fletcher (in conjunction with the Engineering School) called “How Systems Work”. We learned about some of the nuts and bolts of computer systems.

+1. I had no comp sci background but got the opportunity to build that through some great courses (Data and Programming for Policymakers, ML and Big Data for Policymakers, the Tufts Data Lab has regular workshops, etc)

Thank you, everyone!

The Tech@Fletcher club recently concluded a 3 day workshop on Python for Data Vizualisation, FYI.

Fantastic! Thanks for all of information!

That's great to hear, thank you both to Professor Gideon and Miranda.

So many events and interesting people at the Berkman Center, MIT Media Lab, etc! Boston was a great place to explore this field.

And of course, Boston is just as sunny and warm as the Bay Area :P

The ACLU of MA is also very active in tech policy issues, and there is lot of civi tech as well

*civic tech

neil.maheshwari@tufts.edu - happy to answer questions over email!

Thank you very much. Enjoy the spring weather