For the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the mass layoffs in Silicon Valley present a rare shot to snag top talent. With a chronic shortage of tech workers, hundreds of open roles and extra money from Congress in last year’s budget, the agency is keen to seize the opportunity.
Kurt DelBene, the VA’s chief information officer, came to the federal government after roughly 30 years at Microsoft to help fix Healthcare.gov after the site’s infamous crash during the Obama administration. DelBene’s on an ambitious mission to recruit top designers and engineers for the agency, which he intends to make the “absolute best place” for IT in the federal government. Much like any software development or IT company, the agency is looking to fill a variety of roles: engineering leads, product managers, user-experience designers, and customer-support professionals, among others.
