For this month's issue of Government Executive, I wrote about the key challenges government faces in recruiting and retaining the next generation of technology workers. The challenge is for federal managers to be open to and create a culture that embraces quick hiring, flexible work hours, different ways to pay employees, more emphasis on career development, and handing responsibility to employees sooner rather than later. In essence, the government can't be a stodgy bureaucracy anymore.
I've already received a few e-mails from readers citing their challenges in getting their foot in the door for a government tech job, causing some to look for work in the private sector or take another job in the federal government. "My background is in cybersecurity, but I am currently not doing this type of work in govt. for some of the reasons that you mention," one reader writes.
Feel free to share whether you can identify with some of the challenges cited in my story, and whether you kept searching for a government tech job, jumped ship for the private sector, or took another job within government. How can the government best overcome these obstacles?
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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