►
From YouTube: OctogatosConf 2020 - Keynote - Mica Alaniz
Description
Be broad enough: Progress through volunteerism
"Welcome to OctogatosConf 20. Keynote speaker Mica shares "Opportunities to lead are rarely announced with confetti. Often they depend on the expectations of your workplace or role. But can we think about opportunities more broadly?" Through the lens of a personal story, learn how community work and volunteering can galvanize your career and leadership goals.
Note: Mica's talk began with an acknowledgment of indigenous lands, and due to technical issues was not recorded. We regret this abbreviation of the speaker's full talk.
A
Is
a
senior
software
engineer
at
the
dnc
where
she
builds
tools
to
promote
voter
education
and
empowerment,
as
well
as
support
grassroots,
organizing,
fundraising
and
and
and
supporting
all
their
democratic
candidates
and
their
data
needs
in
in
campaigns
across
the
country.
In
her
spare
time
she
teaches
workshops
for
under-indexed
individuals
in
tech
on
git.
She
also
teaches
app
development
leadership
in
the
remote
workplace
and
other
topics:
she's
a
co-organizer
for
prop
conf
chicago
mentors
at
wright,
speak
code
and
is
a
2020
code.
A
B
So
I
want
to
start
by
saying
that
there
is
nothing
more
empowering
than
the
unequivocal
truth
that
I
am
not
alone
the
technology
we
have
at
hand
may
grant
access
to
information
and
tools.
But
for
me
it's
the
connection
to
other
people
that
care
about
the
same
issues
I
do
and
the
work
we're
able
to
do
together
as
a
community
that
really
opened
up.
What
I
thought
were
my
possibilities
and
my
opportunities
when
I
began
to
tie
my
success
to
the
progress
of
the
communities
I
belong
to.
B
Like
november,
I
graduated
from
grad
school
with
this
tech
adjacent
degree,
and
I
spent
the
intervening
time
till
2016,
just
day-to-day
working
at
several
small
companies
agencies,
an
art
school,
a
startup,
the
whole
time.
I
was
learning
growing
my
skills
finding
there
were
new
things
I
wanted
to
do
and
learn
through
these
various
jobs
I
pivoted
into
new
rules
until
I
found
myself
realizing
that
the
days
where
it
would
suddenly
be
5
pm
were
the
days
where
I
was
coding.
B
The
end
of
2016
was
typical
for
me.
I
donated
I
participated
in
the
age-old
millennial
pastime
of
posting
cat
pictures
as
hot
takes
on
social
media,
and
I
voted,
and
I
knew
I
was
even
just
doing
that-
just
the
act
of
voting
more
often
than
most,
and
that
was
really
the
extent
of
it
of
my
involvement
at
this
point.
In
my
life
my
biggest
concern
was
actually
personal,
yet
professional.
B
B
B
B
I
worried
that
part
of
my
frustration
with
my
career
growth
was
that
these
opportunities
were,
I
believe,
the
word
I
used
was
granted,
that
they
could
be
gated
behind
biases
expectations
or
are
simply
just
too
few
to
count
on,
and
these
opportunities
they're
also
not
typically
announced
with
confetti,
if
they
were,
I
probably
wouldn't,
have
been
so
lost
in
trying
to
figure
out
what
was
next.
For
me
after
the
2016
u.s
election,
I
spent
a
lot
of
time,
reflecting
both
on
my
career
and
on
the
state
of
the
world.
B
B
B
He
was
at
that
point
that
year
the
only
person
who
had
announced
that
he
was
running
against
the
most
local
politician.
I
was
a
constituent
of
whose
policies
and
platform
did
not
align
with
my
own
former
illinois,
governor
republican,
bruce
rauner.
The
voir
campaign
website
in
january
2017
was
actual
hot
buttered
garbage.
B
Not
only
did
I
never
think
to
take
a
screenshot,
but
the
internet
way
back.
Machine
also
failed
me,
but
trust
me.
It
was
bad
bad
enough
for
me
to
ask
in
this
cold
email
if
they
didn't
just
want
me
to
call
voters
or
knock
on
doors
which
I
was
happy
to
do,
but
if
what
they
wanted
from
me
and
from
my
skill
set
was
a
new
website.
B
As
I
mentioned,
I
never
thought
I
was
going
to
get
a
reply
or
had
any
idea
that
the
email
was
going
straight
to
the
campaign
manager
who
knew
full
well.
What
they
had
was
not
cutting
it
and
was
desperately
hoping
to
hear
from
people
from
someone
exactly
like
me
in
short
order.
I
went
from
the
first
engineer
to
lead
engineer
to
a
technical
director
role
over
the
course
of
nearly
a
year.
In
the
campaign
I
ran
a
team
of
nearly
40
people
across
the
entire
state
of
illinois
and
directed.
B
B
B
We
all
landed
in
the
same
place
at
the
same
time,
and
we
worked
on
initiatives
that
are
very
commonplace
now,
and
especially
this
year,
virtual
town
halls,
social
media
videos
and
ads.
We
paired
classic
organizing
tools
with
things
like
texting
and
text
banking.
We
did
reddit
amaze.
We
brought
best
practices
and
professional
grade
technology
to
our
goals.
To
the
point
where
we
began
to
hear
the
question,
why
is
this
campaign
punching
so
far
above
its
weight
class?
B
If
I
started
out
2017
worried
that
I
wouldn't
be
challenged
enough
or
granted
new
opportunities
working,
volunteering
on
a
statewide
grassroots
campaign
was
in
fact
exactly
where
I
needed
to
be,
and
that
work
was
happening
at
such
a
breakneck
speed
that
I
barely
had
the
chance
to
soak.
In
that
I
was
being
asked
to
do
a
lot
specifically.
I
was
being
asked
to
do
things
I
had
never
even
thought
to
ask
to
do,
and
frankly,
I'm
not
sure
in
any
other
context
would
have
been
asked
of
me.
B
I
was
being
asked
to
architect
to
lead
a
team
to
weigh
in
and
to
call
shots
to
decision,
make
and
run
things.
The
way
I
saw
fits
about
six
months
into
the
campaign,
someone
linked
to
a
medium
post
in
a
political
volunteer
community
and
said
that
the
dnc
was
looking
for
engineers
the
week.
I
found
out
that
my
complete
why
the
heck
not
application
ended
in
an
offer
was
the
week
the
campaign
announced
that
we
would
be
leaving
the
race
it
made
my
announcement
easier,
but
obviously
bittersweet.
B
B
B
Someone
once
told
me
at
an
event
that
purpose
is
ego
killing
to
me.
That
means
that
once
I
had
found
my
purpose,
no
one
was
going
to
get
in
my
way,
not
even,
and
especially
not
myself,
because
of
that
experience
I
had
the
confidence
to
even
consider
to
apply
for
what
I
thought
at
the
time
to
be
this
stretch
job.
B
B
B
B
B
My
team
at
the
dnc,
the
voting
services
team-
is
not
only
behind
iwillvote.com
and
voyabutar.com,
but
the
data
and
services
that
power
the
centralized
voter
resources
every
election
year.
These
apps
become
the
centerpiece
of
so
many
of
the
organization's
voter
outreach
programs,
but
this
year,
especially
it
is
so
important
to
help
people
quickly
and
easily
find
information
about
voting
in
their
state.
B
Despite
the
fact
that
my
current
role
that
my
job
has
become
fighting
for
the
causes
and
the
values
I
care
about,
I
definitely
did
not
let
up
on
my
at
this
point:
lifelong
dedication
to
volunteering,
I
text
bank
with
organizations
like
open
progress,
text,
troop
and
vote
latino.
I
mentor
at
organizations
like
and
I
focus
on,
teaching
speaking
and
centering
under
indexed
communities
in
tech
like
the
ones
I
belong
to.
B
B
B
I
have
a
few
resources,
I
think,
can
help
people
get
started
on
changing
their
career
trajectory
if
they
want.
Specifically,
I
wanted
to
focus
on
places
where
you
can
find
opportunities,
like
the
one
I
had
where
you
could
definitely
bring
your
tech
skills
or
learn
new
tech
skills
in
the
service
of
a
greater
good.
B
B
There
are
also
organizations
out
there
like
datakind,
that
connect
non-profits
with
tech
and
data
professionals
to
help
these
organizations
figure
out
their
tricky
data.
Science
problems
this,
in
addition
to
providing
meaningful
problem-solving
experience
and
mentorship
to
early
career
data,
scientists
and
analysts.
B
B
If
you
have
an
interest
in
a
paid
role,
either
before
or
after
a
volunteer
one,
a
great
resource
for
progressive
and
social
justice
job
opportunities
is
at
all
hands
dot.
Us
many
of
the
organizations
listed
like
digidems
and
others
are
optimizing.
Tech
skills,
while
training
and
are
looking
for
digital
organizers
and
technical
leaders
to
win
races,
fight
for
progress
and
build
careers
that
merge
our
values
with
our
expertise.
B
In
this
way,
I
realize
I've
been
pretty
fortunate.
I
had
these
priorities
at
the
end
of
2016,
born
out
of
insecurity
surrounding
my
own
professional
future
and
I'm
able
to
put
them
together
with
brand
new
laser-focused
priorities
I
found
after
the
election,
but
none
of
this
would
have
happened.
Had
I
not
considered
first
how
I
could
help
my
more
immediate
community,
how
I
could
focus
my
attention?
A
A
B
I
was
able
to
learn
in
the
positions
that
I
had
and
then
able
to
kind
of
like
stretch
out
even
into
positions
where
I
wasn't
an
engineer
into
like
doing
work.
That
was
a
little
bit
more
interesting
or
challenging
to
me
and
then
basically,
I
think,
which
is
pretty
common
by
switching
jobs
and
doing
that.
Instead,
all
the
time
moved
into
the
roles
that
I
have
now
as
an
engineer
where
I
feel
like
I've
settled.
B
But
even
then,
I
think
that
the
job
is
learning
being
an
engineer,
especially
working
in
technology
at
all
is
learning,
and
it
isn't
the
case
that
you
like
walk
in
the
door
and
sit
down
for
an
interview
and,
like
you
know,
everything
you're
supposed
to
know,
even
if
there
are
interview
processes
that
feel
that
way,
it
is
the
case
that
what
you
need
to
do
what
your
final
deliverables
are
going
to
be.
As
your
work
are
going
to
be
things,
you
learn
how
to
do
while
you're
doing
it.
Basically.
A
B
I
definitely
think
that
I,
I
guess
this
is
like
a
little
expected
that
it's
my
parents
really
inspired
me.
My
mom
worked
at
illinois
bell,
she's
the
reason
that
we
always
had
computers
in
the
house.
They
would
throw
them
out
after
a
year
like
they,
wouldn't
they
weren't
leasing
them.
They
were
buying
them,
and
this
was
like
around
the
time
where,
like
a
new
computer
would
come
out
every
year,
and
so
her
and
other
people
who
worked
in
the
offices
would
bring
them
home.
B
So
I
always
kind
of
looked
to
her
and
like
her
work
ethic
and
her
like
facility
with
technology
and
also
her
willingness
to.
Let
me
play
with
these
computers,
which
I
was
to
understand,
were
expensive
as
being
like
a
big
force
in
me,
like
learning,
and
then
my
dad
has
just
always
been
involved
in,
like
local
politics
and
local
organizing
he's
a
member
of
seiu
local,
73
and
yeah.
Like
definitely
taught
me
a
lot
about
how
to
be
an
engaged
community
member
and
how
to
be.
B
A
Beautiful
and
speaking
of
the
the
kind
of
the
mentoring
that
you
received
from
your
parents,
the
learnings
and
pivoting
a
little
bit
to
your
work
within
the
campaign.
You
know
you
mentioned
that
y'all
took
you,
know
these
volunteers
and
taught
them
certain
aspects
of
the
work
or
maybe
maybe
all
the
work
they
would
do.
When
did
this
piece
of
mentoring
come
into
the
work
you
all
were
doing?
Was
that
something
that
emerged
organically?
As
oh,
you
know
we
can
take
this
opportunity
to
mentor
or
was
it
there
from
the
start.
B
Project
was
something
I
had
a
lot
of
baseline
understanding
of
how
we
would
do
this,
but
not
enough
hours
to
do
it
myself,
and
I
do
recognize
that
when
that
is
the
case,
and
you
have
people
looking
at
you
somewhat
expectantly,
it
is
your
job
to
like
bring
them
to
the
level
where
they
feel
like
they're,
making
not
only
just
the
best
contributions
they
could
be
making,
but
are
also
you
know,
being
utilized
effectively.
People
are
donating
their
time.
A
Absolutely
I
have
had
conversations
with
many
younger
latin
lecturers
I
haven't.
I
I
hope
I
can
keep
stressing
this
enough.
When
they
come
into
a
conversation,
they
all
have
value
they
they
have
something
to
contribute
and
and
to
see
mentors
or
or
individuals
in
leadership
positions.
Appreciating
that
and
and
appreciating
their
time,
it's
is
amazing
to
hear
now
know
speaking
of
skills.
Speaking
of
teaching
a
more
current
topic,
what
what
technical
skills
would
you
recommend
individuals
to
invest
in
if
they're,
considering
work,
specifically
in
civic
and
political
technology,.
B
B
A
B
C
C
B
Is
something
where,
especially
that
I
mean
a
lot
of
us,
are
kind
of
at
home
a
lot?
I
have
definitely
taken
to
making
some
of
the
recipes
that
I
know
take
a
little
bit
longer
that
I
can
kind
of
watch
in
a
big
pot,
and
that
is
something
that
I
think
I
mean
people
should
find
the
things
that
they
themselves.