The White House is trying to tempt top computer science post-grads away from high-paid jobs in the private sector by creating the special new job role of Technology Fellow.
The aim of creating the fresh category of positions that are due to last for two years is to increase the US government's pool of “qualified IT professionals”. The White House oversees an $80m technology budget covering the entire Federal government, which is already a big employer of computer science graduates, and particularly those with security skills.
On launching the programme, Uncle Sam’s new CIO, former Microsoft employee Steven VanRoekel, who replaced Vivek Kundra, said: "Highly qualified IT professionals are of great demand in any sector of the economy, but the extent to which the private sector is able to hire top performers affords private companies an advantage in attracting the best and brightest in IT.”
The Technology Fellows idea presented "young people with a prestigious option when coming out of their respective graduate [degrees]”, however, he added.
Anyone selected for a Fellowship will be given rotational assignments in the government in order to get “in-depth experience in managing large and complex IT programmes." Other areas of the US public sector already run similar Fellowships, which enjoy high prestige (although inferior terms and conditions compared with the private sector).
