ProPublica, the newsroom I work for as Senior Director of Technology, won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service journalism for its work on Supreme Court justices’ beneficial relationships with billionaire donors. You’ve probably heard something about Clarence Thomas’s corruption in particular; that story was broken by us.

ProPublica was also a joint Pulitzer Prize finalist for its work with the Texas Tribune and Frontline on the Uvalde school shooting.

Of course, I’m not a journalist and can’t claim credit for this work. But I feel very privileged to support these journalists and to help publish work that has had (and will continue to have in the future) a real impact on our democracy.

There’s a lot that happens during my day to day work that I can’t talk about at all, but it runs the gamut from supporting software development on our web platform and infrastructure, through helping journalists make good use of secure tools like Signal, to securely dealing with sensitive data drops from sources.

It’s very different work from startups or building open source social networking platforms — but it’s rewarding and meaningful. I’m honored to get to do it, and to know the journalists who are on the ground really doing this reporting.

Now, back to work. Look at what’s going on in the world; where we are as a nation. There’s a lot to do.