Welcome to the 2015 Technology & Innovation Fellows

Last June, we announced that we were seeking to hire the second class of Technology & Innovation Fellows. The fellowship is a two year program for software developers, graphic and user experience (UX) designers, data specialists, and cybersecurity professionals interested in furthering our mission of making financial products and services work for consumers.

I am pleased to announce that our 2015 Technology & Innovation Fellows have started at the CFPB. We had over 1,000 applicants, months of résumé reviews, and a series of interviews to bring in the 2015 class, which includes 26 new fellows. Many of them are joining the federal government for the first time in their careers. Each new team member will have ample support, as they will be joined by 15 returning fellows from our 2013 class who have signed up for a second two-year term at the CFPB. Our returning fellows represent just over half of our previous class; the others have gone on to new opportunities in the tech community, including with other government agencies, in teaching positions, and in the private sector.

The 2015 fellows come from diverse backgrounds. Some come to us from the private sector, others from government service, and still others from NGOs. One left a job where he programmed robots in an artificial intelligence lab. Some have fairly standard backgrounds in computer science, while others are self-taught developers, and some have advanced degrees in areas like astrophysics and environmental science.

Our new team members are joining the CFPB because they have something in common: They’re excited about our mission and about changing the way technology works in government. For some, this means publicly releasing data to make the market work more efficiently; others are excited to apply user-centered design to financial decision making. Some care about adopting development methodologies that can help government be more nimble, while others want to provide the best tools to help the CFPB’s talented workforce.

Thanks for all of the interest in our program, and congratulations to the new fellows. We’re really excited to see the impact they will have at the CFPB.

Ashwin Vasan is the Chief Information Officer of the CFPB.