This post was originally published on the DigitalVA blog.
For applicants seeking IT work in mission-driven organizations, the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 also spurred some serious FOMO (that’s, “Fear of Missing Out,” in case you missed it). Traditional job-hunting challenges faced by early-career IT specialists were suddenly further complicated by a paradoxical new wrinkle: How to sort through the exploding number of remote-based IT jobs that emerged during the pandemic and find a role that has a strong public service focus?
Job-hunting can be like the Hunger Games for early-career IT specialists in today’s marketplace, a high-stakes gantlet marked by a range of challenges, including locating roles that match applicants’ skill levels and interests, as well as finding positions that have growth potential.
Look no further, mission-oriented IT jobseekers! A new Federal government initiative, the United States Digital Corps , has a solution.
Akin to Presidential Innovation Fellowships and the United States Digital Service, the U.S. Digital Corps is a two year-long paid fellowship opportunity for those wanting to direct their IT and digital skills and interests toward public service-oriented projects at scale.
Starting this fall, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, via the Office of Information and Technology’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, joins four other major Federal agencies in offering fellowships, according to a spokesperson at Government Services Administration, which has oversight of the corps:
“[U.S. Digital Corps] will recruit passionate, mission-driven technologists from leading undergraduate programs as well as alternative training pathways such as apprenticeships, bootcamps, and certificate programs, to build a highly skilled U.S. Digital Corps that represents the diversity of the United States, including along the lines of gender, race, and ethnicity,” the Government Services Administration spokesperson added.
“VA is proud to join the U.S. Digital Corps as one of the initial host agencies that will work together with fellows on high-impact projects across our agency and the federal government,” said Charles Worthington, Chief Technology Officer at Veterans Affairs.
At VA, the new corps-members will dig in on developing leading-edge IT and digital tools including mobile applications and human-centered design products and platforms.
“It is going to be awesome,” Mr. Worthington said.
To learn more about U.S. Digital Corps, including information on how to apply for a fellowship, visit Digitalcorps.gsa.gov, and be sure to sign up for alerts, where you can track all application deadlines.
