Julie Ireton, a Senior Reporter from CBC, came in to speak with Fatima and I about the Code for Canada fellowship. I was featured in an article, where I spoke about the revitalisation civic tech can bring to democracy.
"Tech brains are being recruited from the private sector to work on fellowships inside the public sector, but some say the federal government shouldn't just be borrowing talent — it needs to figure out a way to hang on to it.
Code for Canada, a national non-profit group, embeds IT workers inside federal, provincial and municipal governments to offer young developers and designers an opportunity to work and get paid for ten months.
Since last fall, six Code for Canada fellows have been embedded in federal departments in Ottawa. Three others are working with the City of Toronto.
The fellowship helps direct young talent into jobs they may not have considered.
Andee Pittman, a 25-year-old user experience designer, has been working with a team at Transport Canada building an educational tool to help drone pilots better understand new regulations.
"The fellowship is about bringing the civic tech movement to life," said Pittman. "I really think that's a piece of democracy because we're opening up the process and we're solving things with citizens."
She notes the challenges the teams are tasked with solving are complex, but so is the government environment.
"I think what is the main attraction for staying here is the hunger that people have for change, for being more inclusive, being more holistic and being more open about how we're delivering products and services," said Pittman
She'll considering staying on in government — for a bit.
"I definitely don't imagine I'll be here forever and eventually will want to go back out into the private sector," said Pittman. "
