“I think there’s a home for your talents. And that home is in D.C.” That was the last thing I wanted to hear. I lived in London at the time, bouncing between stories as a tech reporter and projects with startups based in London’s Tech City. I wanted nothing more than to stay and make it work in the city I had fallen in love with. And I really wasn’t keen on moving back to the city where I’d spent my college years. Although I loved my time in D.C., I felt burned out by the end. By contrast, I loved living in London and was learning so much in my role as a reporter. I was being paid (albeit badly) to learn about things like self-driving cars, data ownership after death, the role of apps in aid relief and . I hadn’t considered these concepts before; now, my job was to find experts with deep technical insights and interview them about their creations. a feared digital dark age I loved learning about tech, but how could I do that in DC? Like many, I disassociated D.C. from tech. I saw its economy as a little more than a one-stop political shop. Six years after that friend told me that D.C. was the next best step for me, I saw how correct she was. I’ve evolved from a freelance tech reporter to working as part of a fully remote team for a Silicon Valley-based SaaS startup to an analyst studying and learning to code at free meetups — all from inside the Capital Beltway. indirect bias in ML algorithms Those of us in #dctech know that while we’re far from Silicon Valley, D.C. has its own advantages. In fact, it’s been rated . It’s also the city , and women fill 39 percent of the city’s tech jobs — far above the industry average. the #1 city for women in tech for the fifth year in a row where the pay gap is smallest As for me, D.C. is the city where my career came full circle. I first moved here back in the mid-aughts as a liberal arts major at . Eager for a fresh start somewhere else, I moved to London post-graduation to and start my career in London. Catholic University earn my MSc Since returning to D.C. five years ago, I’ve leapfrogged forward due to #dctech. In 2014, I wrote a series of articles for Europe’s Web Summit. In 2016, I helped the D.C.-based hosted by launch their first venture capital competition for women-led startups in London. In 2017, I started learning about AI and contributing to , a Virginia-based magazine covering the future of work. profiling DMV-based startups Women Startup Challenge Women Who Tech The Diplomatic Courier And as an analyst for , a company, I’ve spent the last three years researching and writing about how various technologies are used within small and midsize businesses. I’ve covered , semantic analysis for marketing, blockchain for supply chains, and . GetApp Gartner robotics for bricklaying automation in accounting Throughout my #dctech career, I’ve been given the time, space, and encouragement to learn topics like explainable AI, , and implementing data in a microservices architecture. It’s content that my younger self thought I was incapable of understanding, because I wasn’t a “technical” person. ML algorithms I see now that I created a false binary. I’ve met several women in the D.C. tech scene who learned to code, visualize data and direct product lines . As a result, they approach their work through a more holistic lens. When you consider how your code will impact users at the outset, you’re more likely to spot bugs along the way. after earning liberal arts educations I’ve been in tech for close to seven years and spent all of them far from the Golden Gate Bridge. There has been something special about working in two cities — London and D.C. — and growing my career alongside their tech scenes. I learned a crucial skill working in both cities: . It’s a sadly rare strategy that hasn’t failed me so far, especially as tech enters a new era where ethics are top-of-mind. This thoughtful approach epitomizes #dctech, and I’m thrilled to be part of it. Start with a product’s impact on end users

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From liberal arts to AI: Here’s how this technologist changed her career path

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Companies Mentioned

Lauren Maffeo

About Author

TOPICS

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