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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Relational Technology Fellow (Service Year Position) - **Company:** Thread, Inc. - **Location:** Baltimore, MD, United States - **Salary:** $31,200.0 - **Contract:** Temporary contract - **Skills:** Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering, No-code Tools - **Published:** July 26, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=7bbdf44db93f1468 ## About the Role * No prior coding or software development experience required - you'll learn AI-powered and no-code tools on the job. * Genuine curiosity about AI tools and a willingness to learn new platforms. * Comfort, or a willingness to build comfort, talking with community members to understand their needs. * Strong communication and active-listening skills. * Comfort with ambiguity and iteration - willing to define your own problems to solve. * A genuine interest in community-building, youth development, or civic technology. * Maryland resident, age 18+, and meets MC/SYO eligibility requirements (Service Year Option track: ages 18-24 with a high school diploma or equivalent; Maryland Corps track: any eligible adult 18+, no education requirement). * Able to commit to full-time service (30-40 hrs/week, generally Monday-Friday during business hours) for the full 9-10 month term, along with required MC/SYO professional development training. ## Description Over 9-10 months, Fellows will learn how to spot a real community problem, build a working app to address it using AI-powered and no-code tools, gather honest feedback from the people it's meant to serve, and use that feedback to make it better. Fellows will move through a structured Development Cycle: 1) get into the community and collect ideas, 2) build, 3) reflect, and 4) share out. Fellows will begin by practicing within Thread, then applying the cycle directly with a community partner. No technical experience is required. What matters most is curiosity, follow-through, and a genuine interest in your community., * Authentically engage in relationships with colleagues, community members, and mentors, modeling and practicing the Thread Core Competencies: (a) Show all the way up; (b) Fail forward; (c) Treat relationships as wealth; and (d) Learn from all voices. * Share your own journey of personal and professional growth with the young people, volunteers, and staff you work alongside. * Demonstrate the willingness and resilience to engage in an agile and flexible way as projects and priorities shift. * Acknowledge that each person and community you work with brings a unique vantage point, and approach every conversation as a chance to learn. Building Skills - Learning the Development Cycle * Learn and practice the Development Cycle: get into the community and collect ideas, build the ideas, reflect on the process, and share out to collect feedback. * Identify a specific, observable, local community problem - something concrete enough that a simple app could make a measurable difference. * Learn to write clear, effective prompts as the foundation for building high-quality apps with AI and no-code tools. * Practice structured reflection throughout the process, capturing thoughts, ideas, and concerns as you go. Practicing the Development Cycle * Bring early app ideas into Thread spaces to share work-in-progress and collect real input from young people, volunteers, and staff. * Start with guidance and support from Thread staff, gradually taking more ownership of the process as skills and confidence grow. * Share in-progress apps with real community members and gather specific, actionable feedback. * Revise and improve your app based on that feedback, helping the community see their input reflected in a real product. * Once comfortable with the Development Cycle, partner with a community organization aligned with your interests to understand their needs firsthand. * Apply the Development Cycle to build a tool that supports that partner's real community work - meeting people where they live and work. * Participate in an intensive development week working alongside Thread's Data Team and the Relational Technology Project (RTP) team, stress-testing the Development Cycle by attempting to replicate a core feature of the Thread app in a week-long hackathon. Documenting & Sharing * Document your work throughout the term and produce a final portfolio: the problem you solved, how you approached it, and what you learned about using AI as a tool. * Present your portfolio, potentially alongside other cohorts exploring how AI can foster relationships and build community. ## Related Videos - [Developer Relations in the World of Agents - Michelle Duke](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1898-developer-relations-in-the-world-of-agents-michelle-duke) - [MLOps and AI Driven Development](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/347-mlops-and-ai-driven-development) - [Edit Your Future: Queerverse Radical AI](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/909-edit-your-future-queerverse-radical-ai) - [The Avengers Initiative (Practical Ethics for Software Engineers)](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/2070-the-avengers-initiative-practical-ethics-for-software-engineers) - [Inspiring Young People (and Their Parents) to Become Programmers - Cassandra Chin](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1760-inspiring-young-people-and-their-parents-to-become-programmers-cassandra-chin) - [Hidden efficiency - How to enable your non-engineers as a CTO](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1412-hidden-efficiency-how-to-enable-your-non-engineers-as-a-cto) ## Related Articles - [Navigating the AI Shift](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/629-navigating-the-ai-shift) - [How to start an AI project for a good cause and boost your career](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/15-how-to-start-an-ai-project-for-a-good-cause-and-boost-your-career) - [Dev Digest 120 - Apple and peers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/455-dev-digest-120-apple-and-peers) - [Dev Digest 137 - AI'm not sure about this](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/485-dev-digest-137-ai-m-not-sure-about-this) - [Dev Digest 121 - AI goes offline](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/456-dev-digest-121-ai-goes-offline) - [How to Become an AI Engineer](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/331-how-to-become-an-ai-engineer)