Josephene Ginting
Education
Master's Degree in Computational Social Science, Economics2025 - 2027
University of ChicagoChicago, IL
In progress...
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and Economics2018 - 2022
Cornell UniversityIthaca, NY
- Economics Courses: Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Econometrics, Game Theory, Behavioral Economics, International Finance and Macroeconomics, Public Finance, Development Economics, Decision Theory, Networks, Market Design
- Computer Science Courses: Analysis of Algorithms, Data Structures, Functional Programming, Computer Systems, Operating Systems, Databases, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Graphics, Web Design & Programming
- Mathematics Courses: Probability, Statistics, Discrete Mathematics, Calculus, Linear Algebra
- Other Relevant Courses: Information Ethics, Law, and Policy
Work Experience
Software EngineerJul 2022 - May 2025
FiscalNoteWashington, DC
I work on the FiscalNote application backend to help policy professionals manage legislative, economic, and stakeholder data for analysis and research.
- Develop scrapers, ingestion systems, microservices, data models, and tools for data review and enhancement
- Work cross-functionally with the product team and policy analysts to release new datasets and features.
- Primarily use Python, PostgreSQL, SQLAlchemy, AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, OpenAI, and LangChain.
Software Engineer II
- Developed a multi-agent smart scraping system using LangGraph to automate implementation and maintenance of brittle scrapers and expand coverage of datasets.
- Developed a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) application that mimics the learning process of a research analyst for a given market and provides insight into business trends, implications, and strategic recommendations for a given client.
- Designed and implemented a new pipeline to synchronize two large, complex databases that provide federal data. This work allowed for the deprecation of old, unreliable software.
Software Engineer I
- Studied the effects of grassroots advocacy on legislator votes by conducting sentiment analyses on messages sent to legislators and relating them to floor votes using internal vote forecasting models.
- Rewrote and migrated our most high-profile social-media scrapers.
- Implemented new memory-efficient tools and rewrote the memory-intensive parts of our code to reduce scraper memory usage by more than 50%. Developed tools to continue tracking memory usage.
- Implemented and released new features for the Netherlands and Canadian data.
- Created a new proxy for our services using the SOCKS protocol to control outgoing IP addresses
Related Links
International Finance & Macroeconomics ResearchAug 2021 - Dec 2021
Cornell UniversityIthaca, NY
- Implemented fixed-effects and panel data methods to analyze determinants of growth variation across Indonesian provinces and wrote a research paper.
- Results centered on factors related to growth, economic structure, infrastructure, and foreign investments.
- Supervised by Prof. Eswar Prasad, Professor of Economics.
Related Links
Teaching Assistant, NetworksAug 2021 - Dec 2021
Cornell UniversityIthaca, NY
- Aided over 500 students with conceptual and assignment issues through biweekly office hours and course discussion forum.
- Taught graph theory, social networks, game theory, markets and strategic interaction, information networks, and network dynamics.
- Evaluated and provided feedback on exams and weekly homework assignments.
- Worked with Prof. David Easley, Professor of Social Science, and Prof. Joseph Halpern, Professor of Computer Science.
Related Links
Cofounder and CEOJun 2020 - Apr 2021
Tangga.orgJakarta, Indonesia
- Led business development including research, technology, operations, marketing, and partnerships for an online marketplace to help Indonesian youth succeed in getting into the best universities.
- Implemented the website on Wordpress.org with AWS, PHP, and MySQL.
- Reached over 1.8 million people by improving content and marketing strategy through consumer data analysis using Google Analytics.
Other Experience
Econ-Tech InitiativeJan 2022 - May 2022
Cornell UniversityIthaca, NY
- Selected as one of eight participants for an independent study program that explored the intersection of economics and technology and implemented a project in that area.
- Developed a data visualization tool for students’ college careers using D3.js, JavaScript, and HTML/CSS.
SuperGirls in TechJul 2021 - Dec 2021
SuperGirls in TechRemote
- Selected as one of 100 participants nationwide for an incubator program aiming to find a tech-enabled solution to gender inequality, particularly in the field of education.
- Led product and business development of Foorte+, an app that connects Indonesian youth with mentors for their educational and professional pursuits.