Goodbye Google | Mindy Huang

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There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

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Hi friends,

It’s been a wild ride these last 5+ years, working with some pretty cool people on some pretty cool products. From reading computer vision papers at Daydream, to co-founding a team in Area120, to helping Android transform the automotive industry, being at Google let me run the gamut of Really Neat Tech, and I am super grateful for that opportunity.

But to me, technology was never just for making another neat thing. I come from a multi-generational family of engineers. My grandfather redesigned his country’s power plants to be 30% more efficient. I grew up to my parents talking about building with integrity and the privilege of civic duty that comes with being a US citizen. To me, technology represents my ability to give back to society.

Since 2020, it’s become ever harder to sit back. Over and over, we’ve seen situations where we needed governments around the world to urgently step up and meet people’s needs. Despite heroic efforts all around, I think we can agree it could have gone better.

I started volunteering in the CivicTech space and saw first-hand how passionate and committed our public servants are. They are burning out, working double-overtime on ridiculous timelines to keep a record number of people housed and fed. The gap is that they simply don’t have the expertise to use technology to scale to the surge in demand, or even to hire the right people to do it_._ And there, I recognized my opportunity to help.

Effective February, I will be joining US Digital Response, a non-profit that builds teams of experienced, pro-bono technologists to work with government and organizations responding to moments of crisis. They’ve helped distribute nearly $14 million in rental assistance in Memphis, developed a unified vaccine appointment API rolled out in 20 states, improved voting access for 13M+ people across the nation — and we’re just getting started.

There are so many ways to get involved in the CivicTech movement around the world, including within Google, and there is a LOT of work left to do. If you’re curious to dip your toes in or learn more out about volunteering with USDR, I’m always happy to chat :)

Don’t be a stranger,

Mindy

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mindyhng/

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