Editorial: Taking advantage of advantages

The Rising Star Award winners featured in the pages of this week’s issue give us a glimpse of the next generation of government information technology leaders. They also serve as a reminder that if the government wants to implement its mission effectively and handle looming retirements, its workforce and management practices need to evolve.

There are some well-known disadvantages of government work, the most obvious being pay, particularly in IT fields. Those issues are not easy to address.

Government work is also challenging. It is often on a scale that is greater than anything in the private sector, and it receives more oversight.

But government work has some advantages, too. The most significant, of course, is its mission. People who choose government work do so because they have a genuine passion for public service. They have a strong desire to help others and this country. That is clearly illustrated in the profiles of the Rising Star Award winners and in Federal Computer Week’s annual best and worst IT agencies survey. The work of the 53 Rising Star Award winners demonstrates that individuals can make a difference.

Government work offers another advantage. Because of the government’s size and multifaceted mission, government workers can have an evolving career. The federal government provides a variety of opportunities, but often undermines that advantage.

The security clearance debacle is an example. A huge backup exists in the security clearance process, which the government must complete for many positions.

Yet even when someone gets a security clearance, they often cannot transfer from one agency to another without going through the process again.

If the government wants to be competitive, it needs to be a seamless workplace. Younger workers are more cognizant of the flattened world and are perplexed by the government’s byzantine rules, regulations and paperwork.