It’s hard to describe what a typical day at Nava is like because no two days are ever the same. Every day brings new projects, challenges, and opportunities. So we’re sharing a glimpse of what work is like for different people at Nava. Here’s what Brandon Tabaska, an open source software developer evangelist, has been up to lately.
On open source software development
As an open source software evangelist, my job is to act as a community organizer and a bridge between external open source developers and internal developers. I’m responsible for creating an environment where developers can come together and create high-quality, community-driven software.
An open source developer evangelist is a new role in the tech industry, especially in government tech. I constantly try new things, I make a lot of mistakes, gather feedback, and figure out how to improve. There’s not really a playbook on how to be an open source developer in government tech, so I’m kind of writing that book.
In addition to serving as a software engineer on my current project, my job as an open source evangelist is to work with external developers who add to the project's software and submit issues, code fixes, and documentation. I help bridge the gap between the external developers and our internal developers to grow the open source community working with the federal government. We want people to feel engaged and like they have ownership and pride over the software.
On a typical day at Nava
Every day looks a bit different, but there are some tasks that happen regularly. I always check all of my communications channels: email, Slack (both an internal Nava Slack as well as a public Slack where developers can communicate with us), and GitHub, where the public can submit code issues. It's important that I check all of these throughout the day, because unfortunately, we live in a world where people can post hate speech to public spaces. I have to protect those spaces.
Once I’ve checked those channels, I put together my to-do’s for the day and for the two-week sprint. Nava follows the agile work method where projects are mapped out in two-week sprints, or short, repeatable phases that break down a project into bite-sized chunks of work.
Throughout the day, I have meetings with my team, government partners, and the public. One thing I always do at the end of the day is write down quick notes about what I accomplished and what I need to do tomorrow.
On working with publicly submitted code
Many federal programs are beginning to consider open source software because it can increase civic engagement and democratize software. It allows for more diversity than we would see in closed source government projects.
All types of people want to engage with our project through submitting ideas, code, or something else. I field all of those ideas, engage and parse them, and communicate back and forth with the public.
For this reason, my role requires hard and soft skills. I use very hard skills when evaluating the public’s ideas and communicating them back to my team. But I also rely on soft skills to communicate with the developers who take time out of their day, often unpaid, to contribute to government technology. They have great ideas, but sometimes they’re not the direction we want to take the project. I have to communicate that in a way that doesn’t make them feel like they’ve wasted their time or that government doesn’t care about the public’s ideas.
On creating welcoming spaces at Nava
I’m part of a newer Employee Resource Group (ERG) group called Greenhouse, a group for people who identify as disabled or care for someone with a disability. I am neurodivergent, which is something I’m very proud of and I think makes me good at my work, but at the same time it can be a challenge. In Greenhouse, we are discussing how to increase access to accommodations as more people join Nava, and we’re planning to advocate for changes to our benefits that reflect peoples’ specific needs.
Beyond Greenhouse, I’m able to contribute to efforts that make government technology more accessible. Recently, I helped write an accessibility playbook for Nava’s internal use. It lays out best practices for ensuring accessibility during every stage of the development process.
On life outside of Nava
I’m a big gardener and my spouse and I recently moved to a new house, so I finally have a massive garden outside. One of the things I love about Nava is that we have a lot of Slack channels for various interests and hobbies. The house we moved into is 115-years-old, so I’m part of a channel for people at Nava who own and work on old houses. I love doing DIY home renovation and it’s very fun to chat with other Navanauts about their home projects, tips, and tricks.
I also love to cook. It’s the perfect hobby as a software engineer because I don’t have to worry about my carrots being on the wrong patch level or needing to change out the versioning of my knife. I can just turn off my brain, cut up some vegetables, and everything works.
Outside of work, I also enjoy tinkering in the open source community. I’m a big Linux person.
