Rudy Cordero is the product of immigrant parents. Born in Mexico, he came to the United States as a toddler and grew up on Chicago’s South Side in a household where education was key. “Academic excellence wasn't just like an encouragement in our house," Rudy says. "It was a requirement, like a minimal standard."

That meant Rudy was the school nerd. "My parents weren’t raising us to be popular," he told LATINO Magazine. "They were raising us to have options that they never had." Today, every one of his siblings has a degree or is finishing one, most in STEM. "I just don't think that's a coincidence. I think that's my parents. That's their work ethic showing up in American classrooms."

After a stint in community college and working for a few years in corporate America, he found himself at Yale University studying mathematics and computer science, and it was there he heard about Palantir’s American Tech Fellowship (ATF) at a campus event from friends who had interned at the $300 billion company. "What I found meaningful about it was what Palantir was looking for, which is specifically not just credentials, but what they describe as grit, ingenuity, frontline experience."

Founded in 2003 with new headquarters in Miami, Palantir helps companies and government agencies integrate their data and operationalize AI. It launched ATF with a bold mission: to arm U.S. workers with the skills to deploy cutting-edge software and restore the promise that hard work can still change your life in America. The fellowship's tagline captures this vision: "Your ancestors built the 20th century. You will build the 21st."

ATF is designed for people who have spent time inside an industry such as healthcare, legal, finance, and education, to name a few. As Palantir describes it, what these people share isn't a résumé, it's an orientation: "Their ambition and aptitude has outgrown the room they're in, the organizational inertia has become overbearing, and the tools to solve these problems have never been in their hands. Until now."

The fellowship comes in different formats. Some cohorts run for eight weeks, others for ten or twelve weeks, with live virtual sessions held two weeknights per week. Participants commit 10 to 15 hours per week to instruction and project work.

Fellows learn how to break down complex, real-world problems and design solutions using Palantir's Foundry and Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP). They build custom workflows and applications and learn how to communicate what they've built to the people who need to use it. No technical degree is required — you don't need to know how to code on day one, but you do need "the drive to learn fast, the discipline to show up, and the instinct to ask the right questions.” Exceptional performers earn the opportunity to interview for full-time roles at Palantir or one of its partner companies.

Rudy Cordero’s cohort included veterans transitioning out of the military, engineers working in American factories, startup founders, and self-taught technologists. "What united everyone was the relentless commitment to building and solving problems that actually mattered," he said. "That felt like home immediately."

Now Rudy works as a contractor for General Dynamics Electric Boat, the nation's premier submarine builder, on a program called ShipOS. "The goal is to help shipbuilders work more efficiently, reduce delays, and get more out of every defense dollar that American taxpayers invest in national security."

Rudy believes ATF directly made this possible. "Anyone can go learn these tools on their own. Anyone can make a developer account on Foundry. But they don't know that it's an option. The fellowship showed me the door."

Beatriz Lassise grew up in Cali, Colombia, and came to the U.S. for school, eventually joining the Army. She served fifteen years, deploying repeatedly, and rose to the rank of Major. Along the way, she earned a master’s degree from the University of Denver.

Beatriz first encountered Palantir's platform in 2016: "I was a little intimidated by it. I feel like I didn't have enough knowledge to operate it. But I am someone that is just very curious." But she started taking online classes in data analytics. "I was like, okay, this is about to change the world."

She learned about ATF in early 2025 through LinkedIn. "I said, ooh, this is something in my wheelhouse, and I applied." The three-month online course was intensive, but an instructor told her, "Just trust the process." She adds, "They have the ability to transfer knowledge. There's a lot of people that are very smart, but there are very few that are able to transfer knowledge like they do."

Like all Palantir fellows, Beatriz completed a capstone project—an end-to-end operational workflow demonstrating her ability to bring AI to bear on real-world challenges. Now graduated from ATF, she is looking for a role where she can help transform organizations.

"This is transformative,” she said. “The tasks that took you hours, an agent can do it in minutes. But you’re not going to have less to do. Your output is going to be better. It's not about quantity now. It's about quality. A report that used to take two hours? Now you will have it in fifteen minutes. Two minutes. One click. Now you can action. But if you think you're going to work less, I think people are missing the mark."

For Rudy Cordero and Beatriz Lassise, ATF represented a tremendous opportunity to think outside the box. "It's a very literal sense of me trying to keep the door open for someone else that's coming through," Rudy says. "That's the story of immigrant families in America. Every generation opens a door for the next one. I'm just trying to keep that door open."

Rudy reflects on meeting Palantir's Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar during the fellowship. "He's one of the most respected technologists in national security AI. But what struck me wasn't just what he said about technology. It was his personal story. He himself is the product of an immigrant family. Hearing him talk about what made America possible for people who came here with nothing but drive and belief, it really resonated with me because that's my story."

His advice to young Latinos is simple. "Don't wait until you feel ready. Submit an application before you feel you're completely qualified. Confidence is built by doing, not by waiting. The world needs more engineers, more technologists, more defense professionals who got there by showing up before they felt ready. That's exactly what our parents did when they got here."

Beatriz agrees: "Don't wait to be ready for it. I had that little imposter syndrome. 'This is not the right time.' But perfect conditions don't exist. The moment is now. We as Latinos are resilient and hardworking. Use our roots, our positivity, our hard work qualities. Apply. Do not regret it. If you don't try, you fail one hundred percent of the time.”