(Not so) Uncharted Territory: Leveraging Your Public Service Experience into a Career in Responsible Tech

Exploring careers in the tech space? This post is for you!

Hi, I’m Charley. Some of you may have run into me when I was working at USAID from 2011-2018. During that time, I co-founded and ultimately led what was once called the Center for Digital Development. Since then, I’ve been working in the responsible tech and public interest tech space – first at Data & Society Research Institute and now with Untangled.

Time and again, I’ve seen the same three perspectives holding back systems change in both fields. It turns out, international development and the responsible tech movement have quite a bit in common!

If you’re interested in making this transition, seeing these perspectives clearly and offering alternative frameworks – for developing strategies, cross-sector collaborations, and programs – will be key to adding value in the responsible tech movement. So I thought I’d try to connect some of the dots for those considering a similar career shift – and offer an alternative approach you can use to add value.

Want to hear directly from Charley? RSVP now for our Ask Me Anything on Tuesday October 28 at 12pm EST.

Techno-determinism: technologies drive social change in linear, inevitable ways

We see this assumption pop up in warning messages such as “AI will displace jobs,” “social media polarizes society,” etc. Remember when we kept hearing that mobile financial services would increase savings and reduce fraud?

This mindset reduces the complex ways technology is entangled in social systems to simple cause-and-effect stories about technology. In doing so, it hides the role of people, power, and relationships — and blinds leaders to where real leverage for change actually lies.

Techno-solutionism: complex social problems can be solved primarily through technological fixes and data

At the time, the thinking went, ‘big data’ would help solve critical challenges in health and agriculture, while giving USAID more information on the effectiveness of its programs. The problem?

This approach assumes we can separate data from its context and sees data as an objective reflection of reality.

But data is socially constructed. It results from transactions between people, institutions, and systems. It doesn’t tell us reality; it tells us about the interactions that created it.

What we choose to count is a political act. Deciding what becomes data — and what doesn’t — determines which problems are seen, prioritized, and acted upon. That’s why systems change requires more than “de-biasing” data and technology. It requires interrogating the interactions and institutions that create data in the first place, and redesigning them to produce different futures.

If-then mindsets: complex systems work like machines

As much as we wish it would be, the future isn’t a neat theory-of-change away. We know this but, by breaking systems into component parts, counting what can be measured, and applying linear cause-and-effect reasoning, we start to convince ourselves that we can predict and control outcomes.

But anyone who has worked in development knows that uncertainty is unavoidable, systems are dynamic, the whole is not just the sum of the parts, and much of what matters in a system can’t be reduced to variables or measured with precision.

Aiming in the Wrong Direction

In 2018, I left USAID to steer an award winning coalition against mis-and disinformation with civil rights groups and tech companies at Data & Society.

At the time, trust and safety leaders treated disinformation as if it resulted mostly from algorithms optimized for engagement (techno-determinism), and, in turn, focused our collective attention on better content moderation (techno-solutionism) and robust content policies (if/then) as the best way forward.

Again, these frames situated power in the technology itself – and positioned tech companies and developers as those who needed to act for real change! They treated the rest of us as passive participants. The same thing is happening right now with AI, but I digress.

The point is, the biggest risk right now is that we are looking to solve the wrong problems — we don’t see how the ‘tech problem’ is entangled in complex social systems — and, in turn, come up with woefully misguided or insufficient strategies.

Tech shapes and is shaped by power – and if we center the tech and not the system it hides – long standing, deeply rooted problems will stay stuck or get worse.

Getting Back on Track

If you’re a seasoned professional coming from international development, the federal workforce or the social impact space and want to pivot to responsible tech, there’s no greater value (or leverage!) than helping others see these systems clearly – doing so fundamentally shifts how organizations develop strategies, design programs, and show up in cross-sector collaborations.

That said, the challenges you’ll face will vary depending on where you are entering this space from or who you are helping guide.

• Funders often struggle to clearly align their public interest tech programs and grants towards collective action and positive, sustainable outcomes.

• Leaders in the Social Impact space continue to grapple with their approach to technology like AI as they try to understand how to leverage those in support of their vision for the future.

• Technologists understand the real social and ethical implications of their work but struggle to effect change inside their organizations

• Senior and mid-level managers are frustrated by the status quo but can’t figure out how to work across teams to effect change.

• Consultants think in systems but don’t know how to translate abstract frameworks into practical insights for their clients or communities.

That’s why I built Systems Change for Tech & Society Leaders: to give leaders the strategies I wish I’d had back when I was working in development. This course highlights practical ways to cut through hype, see technology and complex systems clearly, and intervene where change can actually stick.

I’ve now taught this course four times – with public interest tech leaders from philanthropy, civil society, academia, tech companies, and most recently, at Harvard University to 60+ digital transformation leaders across the private sector. With each new cohort, I gather new insights which allow me to further refine and enrich the course and help these leaders make more meaningful change across the areas they work in.

While this course dives deep into practical tools and strategies, the overarching goal is to help participants develop a new perspective that will help any organization in the responsible tech, civic tech, or public interest tech space approach its work more strategically.

Getting involved in the responsible tech sector can be daunting for anyone. But I successfully made it my home for the last seven years, and I’d be honored to help you make the same shift.

From my perspective, the most important part of any pivot is peer support and community. As former USAID Senior Strategy & Learning Lead Shannon Griswold put it, “Charley excels at helping course participants make connections among each other, so that they are building their network of systems thinkers and co-conspirators for the future.”

I’m thrilled to be able to share my story with Career Pivot and to explore these concepts further through an AMA. There you can ask me more questions about my journey into the tech sector and learn more about Systems Change for Tech & Society Leaders.

Tuesday AMA: Pivoting Into Tech

Please RSVP now to join Charley Johnson on Tuesday, October 28 at noon EST for a special Ask Me Anything where Charley will share more of his insights from his pivot into the tech sector and provide guidance on how you can set yourself up for a fulfilling career in that space.

This event is free for paid subscribers. If you aren’t a paid member of the community, please consider upgrading your membership (at least temporarily) to join us for this special discussion. If you are considering joining Charley’s upcoming course, you’ll definitely want to the conversation since he’s offering an exclusive discount to paid members of Career Pivot!