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The Coding it Forward Fellowship empowers early-career technologists to innovate in local, state, and federal government offices across the United States.
Over ten weeks during the summer, Fellows provide critical support to the government offices they work for in cyber, data, design, product, and software roles.
Our 2025 Fellowship will run from June 9 to August 15, 2025. Fellows are paid based on their educational attainment level—undergraduate and bootcamp Fellows make $20/hour, and graduate students make $25/hour.
Applications for the 2025 Fellowship are now closed. Subscribe to our newsletter for future program updates.
WHY APPLY?
Develop as a mission-driven technologist.
You’ll work alongside public servants to apply your technical and problem-solving skills to complex challenges. The Fellowship will empower you to understand the inner workings of government bureaucracy while contributing to the continuous effort to build a better government.
Get paid while making an impact.
You’ll contribute your expertise in cybersecurity, data, design, product, or software to some of our country's most pressing challenges. Past Fellows’ projects have ranged from machine learning models to user interface overhauls, resulting in millions of dollars saved and years cut from production timelines.
Grow personally and professionally.
You’ll attend weekly events with top technologists to learn how technology and design tools are used to achieve impact at scale across the ecosystem.
Find a mentor.
Fellows have the opportunity to be matched to a mentor with experience in the public interest technology field. With one-on-one calls throughout the summer, Fellows receive individualized support ranging from job guidance to skills development.
Join a cohort-based community.
You’ll build a strong community with your peers, a group of talented technologists from across the country. After the summer ends, you’ll join our dynamic network of more than 700 alumni.
WHAT WE VALUE
Coding it Forward Fellows are expected to be:
A technologist proficient in common techniques, tools, and frameworks in one of our five roles.
Someone who is mission-driven and excited for the opportunity to help our government better serve the American people.
An excellent communicator who is able to make technical concepts digestible for non-technical audiences and work with a wide range of stakeholders.
An independent problem solver willing to take the initiative and take the lead in being the technical contributor to their projects.
Someone who is comfortable navigating ambiguity and an everchanging pace of work in government.
WHAT WE LOOK FOR
Fellows tackle high-impact work in one of five areas of practice: cybersecurity, data, design, product, or software engineering. Each Fellow will be matched to a role where their skills and expertise are most fitting and needed. We encourage candidates to explore past projects on our GitHub to get a sense of typical project scopes and skills utilized.
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As a Cybersecurity Fellow, you are comfortable with creating programs, practices, and policies to safeguard the security of applications or networks.
Example cybersecurity projects include:
Creating and validating security features for an application used by the host office.
Reviewing security features for potential vulnerabilities and recommending policies and requirements.
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As a Data Fellow, you are comfortable with creating data products to aid decision-making and streamline access to government data.
Example data projects include:
Creating an analytical dashboard to improve emergency preparedness for a municipality.
Training a machine learning model to classify submission categories of grants received by the host office.
Developing a data processing pipeline to efficiently clean and transform new data automatically.
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As a Design Fellow, you are comfortable with researching, creating, and improving designs for products, systems, and services.
Example design projects include:
Creating a design system to unify look and feel across public-facing tools hosted by the host office.
Conducting user research and prototyping a new interface design for a city service mobile app.
Creating graphic/visual designs for a series of signage on government data collection and privacy guardrails.
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As a Product Management Fellow, you are comfortable with coordinating, researching, and launching digital features or products.
Example product management projects include:
Researching requirements, analyzing benefits and challenges, and creating a proposal for deploying a customer-facing AI chatbot.
Creating a product roadmap to plan and coordinate the launching of a new feature for the city website.
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As a Software Engineering Fellow, you are comfortable with designing, developing, and testing applications, platforms, or systems.
Example software engineering projects include:
Developing a website centralizing knowledge sources across various departments of the host office.
Creating a public-facing API of a specific dataset to facilitate ease and efficient public access.
Developing a mobile app prototype for city employees to route to request locations and document issues.