back to article Gov.uk loses 2 top techies, needs some new ones

The government's second-in-command techie is leaving this month for a job with storage giant EMC. Bill McCluggage held the post of deputy government chief information officer (CIO) at the Cabinet Office for three years, before announcing his decision to move in November. He will start his new job at EMC UK on 1 February. His …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Big_Boomer Silver badge
    Facepalm

    CIO,... Techie? <ROTFLMAO>

    You have got to be kidding!

    I have yet to meet a CIO who knew the difference between an IP address and a MAC address.

    These people are managers and are invariably pulled from non-tech streams to manage techies as most organisations are scared of the idea of tech capable managers.

    1. Gary F

      I agree!

      This job is for a seasoned pen pusher and manager. No proven technical skills are requried. The most IT literate people are the ones on significantly lower salaries at the bottom of the org chart. The higher up the org chart someone sits, the less they know about modern IT and even less about how to impliment and operate it! (I speak with 25 years of observation!)

      The more you know about IT the less chance you have of getting a gov CIO job. They're looking for blaggers in senior management who have done lots of decision making in big companies.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      MAC Address?

      1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino isn't it?

      Having demonstrated my awesome IT knowledge I'll be applying for the job then...

  2. Colin Millar
    Holmes

    McCluggage playing that old management game

    Keeping 1 step ahead of the responsibility - the old government game

    1) Write a buzz-word rich strategy

    2) Bugger off to another job before someone asks you to actually do something

    3) Blame the poor sods who have to try and pay lip service to your steaming pile of manure while still doing the day job of keeping the creaking public sector running

    1. davenewman

      Well, he actually got some thing going in Northern Ireland before he pissed off to London.

      But posters are right to say he is no techie (at least not recently) - his job was to persuade technophobic civil servants and Stormont's finest to follow his lead, while the techies got on with things. Now Des Vincent could do that and knew his technology.

    2. Blitterbug
      Happy

      Mucho chuckles, Colin

      ...bang on target.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Draw in?

    Likely another ex-grauniad hack. Paper's plenty advanced enough for them, eh.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Actually it'll be worse than a grauniad hack. The Cabinet Office have already employed the IT master from Eton College[1] as an advisor so the bottom of the barrel is about to be scraped through.

      [1] Dave C's old school and http://bit.ly/iokCxU

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'll do it.

    But only if I get to write the curriculum for IT, and build the new grading system for the education sector as a side hobby.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    errr.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/government-computing-network/2012/jan/23/andy-nelson-government-cio?newsfeed=true

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Top?

    Harley will be missed, McCluggage less so, he joined CO less than 2 years ago (some fact checking may be in order) and stood by watching other people do work as his team disintegrated around him for two years due to an abject failure on his part to provide anything remotely resembling leadership or innovative thought.

    I'd say all style, no substance, but I don't think there was much style there either.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like