Voices: Brittany Ballenstedt

Brittany Ballenstedt

Blogger

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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CIOs Say They Want Creative Employees, But Most Rate Their Own Staffs Poorly

May 8, 2013 Budget cuts and pay freezes are forcing many federal IT employees to retire or leave their jobs, causing major challenges with the IT talent pool, according to a new survey. In addition, 72 percent of CIOs said creativity and innovation are critical skills in the federal workplace, but only 14 ...

Federal Agencies Start to Lose Competitive Edge for Cyber Workers

May 7, 2013 Salaries for federal information security workers are beginning to lag behind those received by their private sector counterparts, an issue that could impact agencies that already are facing challenges in recruiting, hiring and retaining in-demand cyber talent, according to a new report. The government-specific results of the Global Information Security ...

Study Predicts BYOD Boom by 2016

May 6, 2013 A recent Telework Week report indicated that bring-your-own-device, or BYOD, programs have yet to fully take hold in the federal government, even though many employees are pressing to use their own smartphones and tablets for work. That may soon change: A new analysis predicts more than one-third of organizations will ...

Top Tech Skills for 2013

May 6, 2013 The unemployment rate for technology professionals was 3.5 percent in the first quarter of 2013, and clearly, IT pros with certain experience are in high demand. What skills are hiring managers most looking for? A new analysis by Dice.com found that Java is the top skill hiring managers are searching ...

IT Grads Command $60K in Starting Salaries; That's a Problem for Feds

May 2, 2013 Federal employees are now in their third straight year of frozen pay, and while many lawmakers and the president have argued that a continued pay freeze will not have an impact on hiring and retention, some recent research suggests otherwise, at least for recent college graduates. The 2013 Salary Survey, ...

Keys to Successful Telework May Already Be in Feds' Pockets

May 1, 2013 The success of this year’s Telework Week event – in which more than 112,000 feds participated – is a testament to the progress federal agencies are making not only to make the workplace more flexible for employees but also to continue operations in the event of an emergency. So what ...

White House, Industry Team Up To Prep Veterans for IT Careers

April 30, 2013 Several private companies are teaming up with the federal government to help thousands of service members earn certifications in information technology before they transition from military service. The new IT Training and Certification Partnership will enable up to 161,000 service members to gain industry-recognized certifications for 12 high-demand technology professions, ...

Telework Participation Skyrockets, Meets Less Management Resistance

April 30, 2013 Mobile Work Exchange on Tuesday unveiled the impact of more than 136,000 employees worldwide who teleworked one week in March. This year’s Telework Week, which ran March 4-8, drew 136,093 total pledges, a growth of 91 percent over 2012 and nearly 3.5 times the number of pledges in 2011. Mobile ...

Feds Want to Innovate, But Most Lack Leaders'Support

April 29, 2013 Despite budget cuts, hiring freezes and three years of relatively flat pay, most federal workers still remain motivated to innovate and improve the ways they do their work. But similar to past years, most feds lack the appropriate support from both their managers and their organizations, according to a new ...

It's Not How Many Connections You Have, It's Who They Are That Matters

April 26, 2013 What’s more important to you as an IT professional -- the number of professional contacts you have, or the quality of those contacts? In the age of social networking, particularly on websites like LinkedIn, the quality and quantity of having professional job networks can be key in an individual’s overall ...