Federal Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith has highlighted the government’s desire to hire people with a “technical quotient†to help U.S. digital services offices meet demands of the public, Nextgov reported Tuesday.
Smith told a conference in Washington that the government could invite coders and engineers from the private sector to work on digital projects and other short-term tasks, Jack Moore reports.
“We should have our amazing off-the-shelf products from tech, hosted products, and we should have things that we contract for, custom, but there should be someone in the room who speaks the language,†she told the Internet Education Foundation-sponsored event.
Smith also said the government is leveraging digital boot camps “so that the talent inside the government can be at the same talent level as colleagues in the commercial markets and actually flow between,†Nextgov reports.
Federal News Radio also reported Wednesday the Office of Management and Budget has asked agencies to form their own digital services team until Oct. 1 and recruit new staff with the required technical knowledge.
Smith called on agencies to both scout for outside digital professionals and train their own employees on digital services at the same time, Jason Miller reports.
Smith also said she intends to ease technology policy and promote science, technology, engineering and math education among Americans, the station reports.
