User Experience
Cultivating a dynamic career in UX
Join us for a discussion on how to adapt your career in user experience (UX) to a quickly changing world.
2023
Professional Development
Acquire new skills and knowledge to improve your career performance and reach your professional goals.
Ensuring that federal agencies can deliver excellent digital services requires an engaged and well-trained workforce. While core competencies in collaboration, communication, and leadership remain vital, additional skills like data analysis, cybersecurity, and digital fluency are becoming increasingly in-demand. Creating an intentional professional development plan for yourself or your team ensures that we can deliver cutting-edge solutions.
Related Policy
The President’s Management Agenda: Workforce Priority
Resources on Professional Development
-
An introduction to inclusion
An inclusive culture contributes to a sense of belonging, promotes a healthier and more empowering workplace, respects differences, and optimizes for equal opportunities.
-
How to Present Like a Pro
Wendy Wagner-Smith of the Small Business Administration (SBA) shares her tips and tricks for presenting virtually.
-
Open Opportunities Task Creator Toolkit
The step-by-step task creation process for Open Opportunities.
-
10 Tips for Creating the Perfect Open Opportunity Task
Ten tips for creating tasks in Open Opportunities on USAJOBS.
-
Open Opportunities
Open Opportunities is a government wide program offering professional development opportunities and facilitating collaboration and knowledge sharing across the Federal Government.
Join a Community of Practice
-
Federal Leadership and Professional Development
Providing federal employees with seminars on leadership, professional development, and strategy.
Professional Development events
Learn how to get the right team in place to help you create a trusted, seamless online experience for all your customers.
2022
Federal Leadership and Professional Development
Successful Strategies for Telework and Hybrid Work Environments
Learn from and share with other federal colleagues from across the government strategies for succeeding at working, managing, supervising, collaborating, communicating, and more.
2021
Plain Language
2021 Federal Plain Language Summit
On 9/21/21, PLAIN’s Fourth Federal PL Summit showcases federal employees’ plain language projects. Topics include COVID-19 agency responses, accessibility, user experience, and career enhancement.
2021
Storytelling
Using Plain Language To Tell Our Stories
Learn how to tell a story and figure out what role plain language plays in storytelling.
2021
Professional Development news
On USDC’s third anniversary, Fellows from all three cohorts reflect on their experiences
The U.S. Digital Corps (USDC), a two-year paid fellowship program for early-career technologists, launched in 2021. USDC achievements include hiring more than 150 technologists to support high-impact projects at 25 agencies. In honor of the third anniversary, six Fellows share their experiences and offer advice for those interested in combining their technological expertise with a focus on public service.— via U.S. Digital Corps
A five-step plan for communicating with leadership
How to engage leadership personally, adapt communication styles, and choose appropriate timing for effective interactions and feedback.
Delivering on 21st Century IDEA: A case study from the GSA SmartPay team (Part 2)
A GSA SmartPay product owner shares his experiences as a first-time product owner in a government agile development project.
Cultivating a dynamic career in user experience
Dynamic careers are derived from creativity, accountability, influence and strategic planning. Learn about how enhancing job skills builds resilience in today’s work environment.
4 steps writers and editors can take to demonstrate value
As plain language writers and editors, we need to demonstrate the value we bring to projects. This writeup explains how to calculate the costs of our work and articulate its value.
Resources on Professional Development
-
An introduction to inclusion
An inclusive culture contributes to a sense of belonging, promotes a healthier and more empowering workplace, respects differences, and optimizes for equal opportunities.
-
How to Present Like a Pro
Wendy Wagner-Smith of the Small Business Administration (SBA) shares her tips and tricks for presenting virtually.
-
Open Opportunities Task Creator Toolkit
The step-by-step task creation process for Open Opportunities.
-
10 Tips for Creating the Perfect Open Opportunity Task
Ten tips for creating tasks in Open Opportunities on USAJOBS.
-
Open Opportunities
Open Opportunities is a government wide program offering professional development opportunities and facilitating collaboration and knowledge sharing across the Federal Government.
More News and Events on Professional Development
75 posts
On USDC’s third anniversary, Fellows from all three cohorts reflect on their experiences
The U.S. Digital Corps (USDC), a two-year paid fellowship program for early-career technologists, launched in 2021. USDC achievements include hiring more than 150 technologists to support high-impact projects at 25 agencies. In honor of the third anniversary, six Fellows share their experiences and offer advice for those interested in combining their technological expertise with a focus on public service.— via U.S. Digital Corps
A five-step plan for communicating with leadership
How to engage leadership personally, adapt communication styles, and choose appropriate timing for effective interactions and feedback.
Delivering on 21st Century IDEA: A case study from the GSA SmartPay team (Part 2)
A GSA SmartPay product owner shares his experiences as a first-time product owner in a government agile development project.
Cultivating a dynamic career in user experience
Dynamic careers are derived from creativity, accountability, influence and strategic planning. Learn about how enhancing job skills builds resilience in today’s work environment.
User Experience
Cultivating a dynamic career in UX
Join us for a discussion on how to adapt your career in user experience (UX) to a quickly changing world.
2023
4 steps writers and editors can take to demonstrate value
As plain language writers and editors, we need to demonstrate the value we bring to projects. This writeup explains how to calculate the costs of our work and articulate its value.
Reflections on a year in government from 11 U.S. Digital Corps fellows
To celebrate their first year in government, 11 U.S. Digital Corps Fellows reflect on what they have learned.
10 ways to recognize employees at work
Showing appreciation works best when it’s not one-size-fits all. Here are 10 ideas to get started.
9 web resolutions to jump-start 2023
Nine areas to focus on in the coming year to take your digital sites and services to the next level.
Bringing design in-house
What is design, who are designers, and how can they help your agency? Learn how to build a design team that can help your agency solve “wicked problems” and be more innovative.
Serving the Public: Five Veterans' Journeys to Public Interest Tech
U.S. Digital Corps Fellows share their public service journeys from military service to public interest tech.
GSA Celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) Program
GSA Celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) Program—Since 2012, over 200 Presidential Innovation Fellows have supported initiatives at more than 50 agencies, providing expert advice in specialized disciplines such as artificial intelligence, data strategy, product management, human-centered design, software development, and digital strategy. These efforts have enhanced agencies’ abilities to provide the best customer experience for their stakeholders and the public. The PIF program plans to celebrate the anniversary over the next year with activities to highlight the program’s impact and community since it launched.— via General Services Administration
Webinar Recap: How to Build Your Digital Dream Team
Highlights from the Web Managers Community of Practice panel that shared how to get the right team in place to create a trusted, seamless online experience for all your customers.
Learn how to get the right team in place to help you create a trusted, seamless online experience for all your customers.
2022
Building and Supporting a Diverse Technology Workforce in the Federal Government
Brian Whittaker, acting Chief Innovation Officer at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), shares his personal reflections on the importance of a diverse workforce in government and civic tech.
10 Hiring Tips for Attracting Underrepresented Digital Services Talent to Serve
As we focus on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) as a priority across the federal government, what are some ideas we can keep in mind as we build our digital teams?
From Fellowship To Full-time: How a CFPB Software Engineer Helped Protect Consumers and Built a Career in Civic Tech
Anselm Bradford, a front-end engineer at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), is using his tech skills to protect American consumers.
Customer Experience
The Customer Experience (CX) Symposium Series: A Thought Incubator for Federal CX Practitioners
What is the past, present, and future of public sector customer experience practice? The CX Symposium series gathers practitioners to map our way.
Professional Development
Webinar Recap: The Part-Timer
Learn how Joanne Short of the United States Postal Service (USPS) opened professional doors by going beyond her job description in her Plain Language Summit session, The Part-Timer.
Federal Leadership and Professional Development
Successful Strategies for Telework and Hybrid Work Environments
Learn from and share with other federal colleagues from across the government strategies for succeeding at working, managing, supervising, collaborating, communicating, and more.
2021
