Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg

You may have noticed recently on the CDO twitter feed (and if not, you should follow us @cdowales) that we have started to advertise for digital, data and technology specialists. As there’ll be a number of recruitments in the coming months we thought we’d write a blog to tell you a bit more about why we’re recruiting and what Welsh Government has to offer.

Why are we recruiting?

We recognise in this digital age that Welsh Government needs specialist digital, data and technology skills within the organisation and across our departments to improve the services and policies we develop for Welsh citizens.

We already have a number of people within the Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) profession but with some exciting new projects on the horizon and a growing demand for digital services, we know that we need to grow our Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Profession.

What does Welsh Government do?

Welsh Government currently supports over 100 websites and 24 live digital services including:

• Rural Payments Wales (RPW online- a digital transformation success story) an online payments system for farmers,
• A CADW app which includes a ‘Pokemon Go’ style game where visitors can catch dragons and fairies at the historical sites (The year of legends with augmented reality)
• Business Wales’ online support service (https://businesswales.gov.wales/boss ) providing advice and guidance to businesses.

We’ve also got some upcoming services such as the Welsh Revenue Authority’s online collection of landfill and land transaction tax, more on live registration and services from Care Inspectorate Wales and digital support for the provision of free early education and childcare for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds.

What does Welsh Government have to offer digital, data and technology specialists?

As a devolved government, Welsh Government gives staff the opportunity to work on exciting projects within policy areas such as health, transport, education, tourism etc. (Welsh Government responsibilities). Working as part of the DDaT profession means that we can make the policies and services we offer in these areas easier for people to access and make the experience of using government services better for citizens.

The areas of work are varied and offer the opportunity to build expertise and a career across really interesting areas of work with lots of technical challenges. There is a lot of cross-departmental working to share best practice amongst the profession and across Welsh Government.  There is also cross-governmental working with Scotland, Northern Ireland and the UK Government, again looking to share best practice.  The work also provides the satisfaction of building things that directly impact the way Welsh citizens are able to use public services.

Changing the way we recruit

We have been doing work to align our job roles to the UK Government’s Digital Data and Technology Framework (DDaT Profession). We want to use the same consistent terminology and language to describe our jobs as other government departments on our doorstep such as DWP, DVLA, Companies House and ONS.  This will make it clearer what skills we’re looking for and what is expected of those roles.

We’ve also been trying to simplify the process for applying for our digital jobs. We understand that our civil service competency based application isn’t always familiar to those looking for a job in DDaT, where CV’s are much more common.  So, we’ve been trying out some different ways for people to apply while still maintaining the standards required as part of the civil service.

We know how important it is to be able to show the career progression for professionals within this area and by aligning to the DDaT framework we hope that it will be clearer what the progression can be. We have also started to offer apprenticeships, bringing people in to train them up within the profession.  Last year we welcomed our first cohort of digital apprentices who are working in different teams across Welsh Government.  We will be featuring a series of blogs from them over the next 12 months, so keep an eye out.

Why should you join Welsh Government’s DDaT Profession?

We think Welsh Government is a great place to work and you should consider joining us, but don’t just take our word for it! This month we will launch a series of blogs from current DDaT professionals working in Welsh Government.  Hear about what they do day to day and their experience of working for Welsh Government as a whole.  Keep an eye out for these blogs and for our tweets about new job adverts.

We hope to be welcoming you into the organisation soon.