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After a year of massive cuts, the tech job market is so unstable that the US government has come to be seen as an appealing, innovative employer.
Tech companies have laid off some 400,000 people worldwide in 2022 and 2023, according to Layoffs.fyi, a site that tracks tech industry job losses. With the market yet to right itself, and some people reexamining the role big tech firms play in society, public sector roles, complete with perks like pensions and a warm, fuzzy do-good feeling, are suddenly proving popular.
“This is a great nexus point where the need and capacity is out there,” says Keith Wilson, the talent engagement manager with US Digital Response, a nonprofit that helps governments with digital expertise. “We’re trying to help these state and local governments learn how to hire better for technical roles.”
Case in point: The US Department of Veterans Affairs, which has hired 1,068 people into tech jobs over the past year, meeting its hiring goal, says Nathan Tierney, chief people officer for the department. To do so, the agency adjusted pay to narrow the gap between government and private sector roles, resulting in an average salary increase of $18,000—and nearly all workers across the department got raises.
It also reworked its application and recruiting strategies; rather than wait for workers to come to the hiring website, it went to find them at LinkedIn Live events and conferences. The department also advertises remote roles, and it is setting up hubs for workers in cities where tech workers congregate, like Seattle, Austin, and Charlotte. “I want to hire highly skilled folks,” Tierney says. “We have an opportunity to capitalize on that.”
There’s a lot of work to do. Red tape and slow processes shroud government work. And keeping pace with the private sector, where hiring strategies and salaries move fast, has traditionally been hard for governments. Then, once hired, those employees may face similar roadblocks when it comes to innovating in their jobs. Still, there’s movement by local and federal US government branches to bring in new talent.
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In 2021, US president Joe Biden signed a $1 trillion infrastructure law. It included $1 billion in cybersecurity grants for state and local governments, along with additional money for federal agencies to spend on cybersecurity. This influx of cash comes as the tech sector slumps.
And interest in government jobs among tech workers remains strong. In late October, more than 3,000 people registered for a Tech to Gov career event, held by the Tech Talent Project, a nonprofit that helps the US government recruit for tech roles. One thousand more had signed up for a waiting list.
“It’s not just layoffs—what I have definitely seen is folks pausing in the tech sector,” says Jennifer Anastasoff, executive director at Tech Talent Project. “This has been a moment where folks have started pausing and started thinking about where they can make the most difference.”
A federal tech job portal had 107 openings as of mid-November. The salaries range from around $40,000 to nearly $240,00. The Office of Personnel Management, the human resources arm of the federal government, made a pitch to laid-off tech workers earlier this year, hoping to scoop up some 22,000 people into public sector tech roles. That office did not respond to emails seeking updates on the hiring process for tech jobs. But smaller government agencies around the country have made strides in luring high-profile private sector workers.
New York recently hired a former high-ranking employee from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts to serve as the state’s first chief customer experience officer. Shelby Switzer took a job as the director of Baltimore’s new Digital Services Team earlier this year. Three new employees were hired underneath Switzer—all from the private sector. The group’s first project was to modernize permitting; instead of going to several offices in person to obtain permits for events and street closures, people can now apply online. It seems simple, but for the local government, that’s a huge deal.
One of those benefits came in hiring a UX designer, says Switzer. “Having somebody who is the expert in thinking about the usability of services in technology is just totally new.” But working in government can mean one tech team is trying to innovate while stuck in a bigger, slow-moving pool. “There is a ton of organizational inertia,” Switzer says. “Government wasn’t really designed to be efficient.”
These kinds of small changes are hard to come by in government, but there’s a trend to more cities and states making investments in tech infrastructure. In early November, in Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth Office of Digital Experience, or CODE PA, launched a system that lets residents, businesses, charities, and schools look up if they are eligible for a refund after paying for a permit, license, or certification, and then request a refund.
Pennsylvania is investing big in tech and AI under Josh Shapiro, its new governor. It hired Amaya Capellán, who moved from Comcast to the Pennsylvania government this year, trading corporate life for the role of Pennsylvania’s chief information officer. Some initial priorities for Capellán include finding ways for governments to use generative AI and updating permitting and licensing.
Capellán says people may be realizing that tech companies are treating them as replaceable, pushing them to reconsider roles in tech. “It’s really inspiring to think about the kind of ways you can affect people’s lives for good.”
