Federal information technology workers are welcoming proposed changes to IT job descriptions and titles, the Office of Personnel Management said Tuesday.
In an October proposal, OPM suggested that agencies replace minimum entry-level IT job requirements, like years of experience or schooling, with general and technical competencies. The proposal also added 11 new specialty titles to help better describe positions in the computer specialist (GS-0334) and telecommunications (GS-0391) series.
The comment period on OPM's proposed IT job profiles ended Dec. 10. So far, the reaction has been favorable, OPM Director Janice R. Lachance said.
"Most commentators applauded OPM's efforts to proactively ensure that the federal government is able to recruit and retain a quality workforce and to respond to the needs of both the information technology and the human resources communities," Lachance said.
Linda C. Lorenzen, IT director at the Housing and Urban Development Department's Denver, Colo. office, said OPM's decision to re-evaluate the federal computer and technical series is welcome news.
Lorenzen, who manages 10 computer specialists she said are "definitely underpaid," said any attention to the complexities of the IT workforce is a step in the right direction.
Still, the new specialty titles could prove troublesome, she said. All 10 members of her IT team have some skills from each of the 11 draft specialty titles, Lorenzen said. "What do I call these people?" she asked.
According to OPM, other people who commented on the drafts agreed that the specialty titles could use some tweaking. Some said the "software development" specialty should be called "software engineering," and others argued for a "web development" specialty title, OPM said.
A different proposal to get rid of the GS-0391 telecommunication series was met with conflicting opinions, OPM said.
The comments on the draft proposal will be reviewed by OPM and the governmentwide Chief Information Officers Council. Changes may be incorporated in to a pilot program that is scheduled to begin in February, OPM said.
The new titles will be released governmentwide in January. At that time, agencies can either apply the new titles or wait until new classification standards are published later in the year.
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