4 ms·

Apply for a job. Run towards the fire. Help fix it.

noonespecial 7y ago
All the worst jobs I've ever had shared one common characteristic. Knowing exactly how to fix a problem, having the skills to do so, and being absolutely forbidden from actually doing it. This sounds like one of those "opportunities".
- sailfast 7y ago
  I would argue in this case that there is no "exactly how to fix it" when it comes to public sector technology, that said - you're absolutely right. Organizations often want the competence and then align things against competent people working to accomplish that goal. In order to solve the problem effectively, you've got to be an organizational hacker with some patience as well as a technologist - which requires a slightly different skillset than solving the easier engineering problem. All that said, laments about "how do we fix government X" will never be solved if we deem the cost of entry too high to even attempt to fix it ourselves. Obviously this is all in addition to and outside of any democratic process that would lead to reform of how these positions were managed, performed, etc.
lliamander 7y ago
So I'm a software engineer in the private sector. What would be the path for me to take if I wanted to become an IT director for a local government? It's actually not something that would be my first choice, but I do personally know people who have been harmed by incompetent/apathetic IT leadership in local governments. It angers me enough that I would consider a career change.
brianlweiner 7y ago
I applied for the Baltimore City director of digital operations position. I interviewed with Frank Johnson and a variety of other city department heads. I got the impression they were a group of people that broadly understood their problems and were finding it very difficult to steer the city towards good solutions. Although Mr. Johnson was the City's Director of IT, realistically he had very nominal oversight over many of the city's actual IT departments - which were spread across a series of departments with their own employees, budgets, and resources. This was something he had been actively trying to improve but with limited progress. I don't know what the best solution is - their hiring process is flawed and it's difficult to remove or replace problem employees. The budget is about 60% of what it probably needs to be and there's no path towards improving it.
- sailfast 7y ago
  That sounds right. Good for you for going out for it. Hiring / firing in government is certainly not helping the situation, and budget fights are always a struggle.

All the worst jobs I've ever had shared one common characteristic. Knowing exactly how to fix a problem, having the skills to do so, and being absolutely forbidden from actually doing it. This sounds like one of those "opportunities".

sailfast 7y ago
I would argue in this case that there is no "exactly how to fix it" when it comes to public sector technology, that said - you're absolutely right. Organizations often want the competence and then align things against competent people working to accomplish that goal. In order to solve the problem effectively, you've got to be an organizational hacker with some patience as well as a technologist - which requires a slightly different skillset than solving the easier engineering problem. All that said, laments about "how do we fix government X" will never be solved if we deem the cost of entry too high to even attempt to fix it ourselves. Obviously this is all in addition to and outside of any democratic process that would lead to reform of how these positions were managed, performed, etc.

lliamander 7y ago

So I'm a software engineer in the private sector. What would be the path for me to take if I wanted to become an IT director for a local government? It's actually not something that would be my first choice, but I do personally know people who have been harmed by incompetent/apathetic IT leadership in local governments. It angers me enough that I would consider a career change.

brianlweiner 7y ago

I applied for the Baltimore City director of digital operations position. I interviewed with Frank Johnson and a variety of other city department heads. I got the impression they were a group of people that broadly understood their problems and were finding it very difficult to steer the city towards good solutions. Although Mr. Johnson was the City's Director of IT, realistically he had very nominal oversight over many of the city's actual IT departments - which were spread across a series of departments with their own employees, budgets, and resources. This was something he had been actively trying to improve but with limited progress. I don't know what the best solution is - their hiring process is flawed and it's difficult to remove or replace problem employees. The budget is about 60% of what it probably needs to be and there's no path towards improving it.

sailfast 7y ago
That sounds right. Good for you for going out for it. Hiring / firing in government is certainly not helping the situation, and budget fights are always a struggle.