It’s not only private enterprises that face a digital skills gap — government agencies do as well. In fact, they have far more problems in hiring than do enterprises.
The article, “By the Numbers: Federal Agencies Face Uneven Struggle Hiring Young Tech Talent” details just how difficult a time agencies have in attracting developers and others with technical skills. It notes, “Since 2010, the number of retirement-age federal IT specialists grew 64 percent and the number of young technologists in government shrunk 30 percent.” There are several reasons for that, starting with salaries and benefits. The article reports, “The government can’t offer the high salaries tech-savvy 20-somethings might earn at startups and industry giants in Silicon Valley…On top of pay, the private sector can often provide more flexible benefits packages than government organizations.”
"Since 2010, the number of retirement-age federal IT specialists grew 64 percent and the number of young technologists in government shrunk 30 percent."
Government agencies, the article warns, also market themselves poorly to potential employees and act much more slowly on hiring people than does the private sector. All this adds up to a looming crisis for agencies that want to be more effective and productive through the use of technology.
This is also bad news for the general economy. Government spending makes up a sizable portion of the overall economy, a whopping 35.8 percent in 2019, according to USGovernmentspending.com. That’s a sizable segment of the economy facing potential lost productivity.
How to Solve the Government Tech Skills Gap
There is a solution, however: Low-code and no-code development platforms that allow those with little technical expertise to write full-blown applications, and that also increase the productivity of IT staff. That way, agencies can increase productivity and offer better government services even if they can’t hire top technical talent.
So concludes Prashanth Vijayaraghavan , a technical architect at REI Systems, in his article, “Drag-and-drop coding platforms can help agencies that are short on technical staff.” He puts it succinctly: “As federal agencies find it increasingly hard to hire technical staff, some are adopting low-code platforms that can help users and citizen developers easily create applications.”
The benefits of the platform for government agencies are the same as they are for private enterprises, he writes, including building apps easily, using a drag-and-drop interface for data modeling, designing useful workflow processes and business logic, developing reporting tools and more. Also important, he says, is building mobile applications with offline capabilities and integrating them with third-party systems.
Choosing the Right Low-Code/No-Code Platform for Government Agencies
Alpha TransForm is an idea no-code/low-code app development solution for government agencies. Using Alpha TransForm, government workers can craft mobile apps in minutes that utilize the latest mobile features (camera, GPS, etc.) for fast, accurate data capture -- and they work whether a WiFi or cell signal is available or not. . Learn more about Alpha TransForm, app templates for government and a free 30-day trial.
Powerful Data Capture Apps for Officials, Inspectors and Administrators
Emergency Response • Dispatch • Permits and Renewals • Registration and Licensing • Certifications and Training
Equipment Inspections • Incident Reports • Time and Attendance • Directories •
Activity Sign-up and Invoicing • and more,,,
Comment