Scott Kupor's New Plan to Bring Tech Workers Into the Federal Government

What It Covers

Scott Kupor, Director of the Office of Personnel Management and former Andreessen Horowitz partner, explains the US Tech Force program recruiting 1,000 engineers for two-year government roles to modernize federal infrastructure and address workforce pipeline problems.

Key Questions Answered

• •Federal workforce demographics crisis: Only 7% of federal workers have under five years experience versus 22% in private sector, while 44% are over 50 versus 33% privately, creating a massive retirement wave with no pipeline replacement strategy in place.
• •Merit-based hiring transformation: Government eliminated 43-year consent decree banning technical assessments, replacing self-attestation checkbox applications with actual coding tests like CodeSignal to properly evaluate and level candidates from GS-5 to GS-15 based on demonstrated skills, not tenure or degrees.
• •Performance management overhaul: 80% of federal workers receive top ratings (4 or 5 out of 5) while only 0.2% get low ratings. New forced distribution caps top ratings at 30% with 60% of bonus pools directed to top performers to create actual accountability and differentiation.
• •Two-year rotation model: Program partners with 25 tech companies to provide job fairs after tours, recognizing young workers won't commit 40 years upfront. Focuses on early-career talent where public-private pay gaps are manageable, not senior executives where compensation differences become insurmountable.