Investment in Education Needed to Expand the Federal IT Workforce
“We can sometimes use industry partners to do some of our mission-critical work, but it still requires having federal employees who are subject matter experts to handle the work,” said Don Means Jr., director of the Operations and Infrastructure Center for the Defense Information Systems Agency.
DISA manages the IT infrastructure used by nearly 3 million Defense Department employees around the world, so “our workforce is our most important resource,” Means said. “An investment in STEM at all levels of education is essential to increasing the talent pool we can rely on the most.”
READ MORE: Diversity in the workforce can drive new ideas in IT.
Non-government influencers working with federal agencies also see the need. Amazon Web Services operates the AWS Government Executive Education program, a four-day, MBA-style course for government leaders that provides guidance on IT transformation.
“To keep up with technological changes, it’s important to develop an IT workforce that understands what new technologies are and to help them stay ahead of the technology learning curve,” said Max Peterson vice president for global public sector at AWS.
New Recruiting Methods Can Attract Diverse IT Talent Pools
“Technology is only as good as the people who launch it, integrate it, use it and support it,” said Jennifer Kenney-Smith, one of the hosts of ATARC Federal IT Newscast. The government is “losing talent to the private sector for higher salaries, flexible work schedules, remote work and unlimited leave.
“There is an opportunity for a complete overhaul and transformation of procurement and retention practices,” he added.
LEARN MORE: Federal agencies are evolving to meet new workforce needs and demands.
Many federal agencies are trying to find new ways to recruit additional IT staff. GSA supports the new US Digital Corps, a two-year fellowship program that began in June, targeted at technologists early in their careers. “It’s great to see the federal government experimenting and implementing new ways to attract and retain a diverse technical workforce,” according to a statement from the Corps team.
New Federal Workers Seek Flexibility, Additional Training
Former US Department of Agriculture CIO Jonathan Alboum, now chief digital strategist and federal CTO at ServiceNow, sees the recent evolution in remote and hybrid work as key to attracting new IT staff and retaining existing employees. already there.
“The right technology to do your job drives higher levels of engagement and job satisfaction. Federal employees want to be able to do their jobs where and when they need to,” he said. “We should expect agencies to retire as many office tasks as possible. It’s a complex digital transformation that doesn’t get enough attention.”
DISCOVER: How CDW’s IT services can help agencies with digital transformation.
Government IT leaders understand this. “Shifting business priorities and the exponential and rapid pace of technology change require a certain agility in how we manage our workforce,” said the GSA CIO David Shive. “We need to make sure we’re leveraging the money in our current workforce with training opportunities, development and learning experiences.”
And they’re not averse to promoting their own agencies as places where that can happen. “GSA is a great place to work, and we’re doing innovative things with information technology,” added Shive. “Come with us.”