Transitioning into government as a technologist: what to know when you’re considering making the move
Advice on how to transition your career from the private tech sector to government
By: Rebecca Heywood, Governments Team Lead at USDR
With a lot of career uncertainty in the private tech sector right now, many people are considering joining government teams. If you’re one of these people — or even just interested in what this transition could look like — understanding the differences when applying and working in government vs. tech is key to a successful transition.
Working in the public sector can allow for your work to impact at a scale that in most jobs, is unimaginable, while also solving tough problems for people who are often left out of private-sector tech products. Cyd Harrell, author of A Civic Technologist’s Practice Guide (a must-read for anyone thinking about working in civic tech), and current head of San Francisco Digital Services, says, “Your work in civic tech can help groups trying to address inequities and improve services in a huge variety of areas…we have an opportunity in this field to use tech for good, not just for profit.”
As you start your own journey investigating careers in public service, there are some great guides to help you learn about tech jobs in the federal government and joining the federal government. With less information available about navigating state and local opportunities, we’ve put together a three-part series covering some basics of the different types of governments and teams at local, state, and federal levels, the need-to-know information about government hiring, and tips for taking the first step into your government journey.
In 2020, nearly 24 million people of the U.S. workforce were public service employees. That’s a lot of different types of jobs! By far, most public sector jobs in the US are at the local level (nearly two-thirds of them!), but there are also opportunities at the state and federal levels, as well as with a myriad of other governmental organizations. So how do you go about navigating this wide array of options?
There are lots of types of governments
The government landscape can be confusing, partially because it looks different everywhere. Typically, it is structured as federal -> state -> county -> city. Most people will have more contact with their state or local government because these agencies deliver many of the services communities use in their day-to-day life — schools, parks, housing, roads, public transportation, libraries, driver’s licenses, marriage licenses, and much more. If you care about a particular issue area or service or want to work directly with community members, state or local government is likely the way to go.
The federal government controls a lot of the money allocated to other levels of government. It often sets national policies, standards, and programs that get executed at the state or local level, depending on the issue. For example, unemployment insurance is Federally funded, but distributed at the State level. Federal employees do vital work that enables change at other levels of government, but it can sometimes feel further removed from day-to-day life and impact on people.
In addition to these typical levels of government, there are many other governmental or quasi-governmental organizations — such as tribal governments, regional organizations of governments, housing authorities, and public transit authorities. All of these governmental organizations will have different types of opportunities for technologists. Regardless of where you end up, it is common for there to be touch points between levels of government to ensure effective service access and delivery, so you’ll likely have contact with your peers and colleagues at partner agencies.
As a technologist, you could work on just about anything
Governmental policy and regulation touch just about every aspect of our lives, meaning that you can work on just about anything. All levels of government, from federal agencies to smaller towns, are thinking about everything from handling future pandemics to using technology and AI responsibly to combating climate change locally.
Teams are also typically quite lean, and you’ll quickly learn things like a single person is the only thing keeping a critical system serving Veterans running. That does mean, however, there is a lot of opportunity for taking on new responsibilities and growing your experience.
In addition, unlike private companies, governments don’t have a choice in who they serve — they have to serve everyone, regardless of complexity, especially those who might be considered “edge cases” in other environments. Designing programs for large user bases can make the work complex and immensely rewarding.
One way to think about making the transition into government is by asking yourself what type of issues you care about or are important to your community. Are you worried about housing availability and equity? Keeping your community resilient to climate change? Access to broadband and the internet? Making good applications for public benefits? Helping governments make good use of data? Making sure the sewers are modernized? No matter your interest, there is a place for you.
There are a myriad of different types of teams and cultures
Just like following issues that you care about, government teams also allow you to focus on different work cultures that allow you to thrive. In addition to agencies and teams that work on specific policy areas, there are also many teams that cut across policy areas, like digital service teams, innovation teams, data teams, or IT teams that serve many teams or departments in a more shared service or consulting-like fashion. Working on one of these teams can give you exposure to many of the different policy areas your colleagues would work on.
You could work in an executive’s office, such as a mayor or governor’s office, focused on collaborating across the jurisdiction to advance their political priorities. This can often be a more fast-paced environment and at a bird’s eye policy view. You could focus on supporting colleagues working on specific policy areas by working directly in a policy-focused agency, like a housing or transportation department. Experiences working in each will be a bit different — agencies are purposefully kept away from some of the day-to-day work of elected officials because the government continues to provide services regardless of the political administration. Still, elected officials have priorities that agencies help execute on.
Team cultures will often vary across agencies and teams, with less of a unified focus on culture across the entire jurisdiction. Sometimes this is due to size, and sometimes this is due to management styles. It’s important to ask questions about work style and culture fit as you meet folks on teams you may be interested in to make sure it is a good fit.
Our next post will go more into the need to know about government hiring and how it may differ from processes you may be more familiar with. Stay tuned! In the meantime, you can check out weekly posts of federal, state and local government tech and innovation jobs by subscribing to the #PublicSectorJobBoard newsletter here.
Not quite ready to make the transition or want to try out the civic tech space before making the leap? Consider volunteering with us here at U.S. Digital Response to support governments across the country.
