Former Googler Mikey Dickerson to lead the White House’s new digital services team

After stepping in last year to help save the highly troubled HealthCare.gov website, former Google site reliability engineer Mikey Dickerson is taking a job with the US government. Dickerson will lead a new team that will be tasked with identifying and repairing the government’s troubled websites and computer systems.

According to White House officials, Dickerson will be the deputy chief information officer of the federal government and administrator of the United States Digital Services Team, overseeing a small group of tech experts whose purpose is to modernize the government’s ailing websites. In addition to hiring the former Googler, the White House created a draft “playbook” based on Dickerson’s efforts last year that helped resurrect the government’s troubled healthcare website. Furthermore, other federal technology officers can use this material as guide to help improve their respective website and computer systems.

Dickerson’s crew will have a modest start, with only $3 million allocated from the government’s technology budget, however officials say that $13 million has been requested for next year and the administration plans on hiring up to 25 people. The team will step in where websites need immediate attention, as well as cook up solutions for possible threats before they happen.

(via The New York Times)