More than 40 students joined the Department of Defense on Thursday for the seventh annual Information Technology Job Shadow Day at the Pentagon.
“The most critical resource we have is the workforce,” said David DeVries, DOD deputy chief information officer. “So the intent is to attract the younger generation [and] show them what we do and excite them about going out for education in the world of IT and cyber, which is so much more critical today.”
The students activities ranged from visiting a networking monitoring site and information technology expo to interacting in personalized briefings covering social media, graphics and digital information protection, according to the Armed Forces Press Services.
DeVries told AFPS the federal CIO Consult Initiative, which inspired the first shadow day, has grown considerably as global commerce and communications rely more on information technology.
“Everything we do revolves around the exchange of information — every facet, whether deploying to help a nation or [applying] a combat force some place, or even to run the daily business of transporting goods around the world,” DeVries said.
He continued, “At the end of the day, [young people] have to feel excited about what they want to do in life, This is the chance for them to see a great agency … at the heart of this nation and how much we depend upon [information technology] and the cyber workforce, … and how they can become a valuable member within that.”
