Letter to the editor
I am referring to the July 26 article titled "IT workforce hurting e-gov."
It is very clear to me the reason the government is losing its edge
in the IT arena. I am a good example.
At 42, I went back to college and majored in mathematics and computer
science. After receiving my degree, I went to work for the government under
the AMC Intern program. In this program, extensive training and funds were
spent on me to ensure that I had the necessary technical skills the government
needed.
Then I hit the civil service system of promotion. As I did well, I was
promoted to a GS-12, project leader, now using less of my technical skills.
As privatization progressed, I was made a "manager" of the "doer" — the
contractors — and now use none of my technical skills.
At the moment, I am a project manager and not programming at all. May
I suggest that you hire managers to manage and allow those who are technical
to continue to train and learn so they can keep their edge?
Name withheld upon request