The three-week federal shutdown is decimating what's left of the government's tech workforce, forcing skilled technologists to abandon critical systems that millions of Americans depend on. With 750,000 workers furloughed and threats they may never receive back pay, the brain drain could cripple government technology infrastructure for years to come.
The federal government's tech talent is hemorrhaging at the worst possible time. Just as the Trump administration and DOGE have already slashed the federal workforce throughout 2025, the three-week shutdown is delivering what could be the final blow to government technology operations that touch every American's life.
Kin Lane, an API expert who worked on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid system in 2013, knows exactly what's at stake. FAFSA processes millions of college applications annually, handling sensitive financial data and IRS integration that determines whether students can afford higher education. "That process working or not working, the privacy, the security... just equipping the next generation year after year," Lane told The Verge. "That kind of bureaucratic machine is super important and super critical."
But Lane's own government service was cut short by the 2013 shutdown. Living paycheck to paycheck in DC, he couldn't survive without pay and had to abandon his Presidential Innovation Fellowship. "When the shutdown happened, everybody was kind of partying. I was freaked out," he recalls. "I had an Airbnb. I was like two weeks away from being homeless."
Now history is repeating itself on a much larger scale. The current shutdown has furloughed up to 750,000 federal workers, and the Trump administration has reportedly been hatching a plan to withhold the back pay these workers would typically receive. For tech workers who already face an 85% pay cut compared to private sector roles, the message is clear: find another job.
"It definitely contributes to the perception - and the reality - that the government is just a pretty shitty employer," says Mikey Dickerson, who served as the first administrator of the US Digital Service under Barack Obama. The USDS was later repurposed into DOGE, effectively gutting the program designed to modernize government technology.
The timing couldn't be worse. Private contractors working with federal agencies report that "half of people are gone and you can't reach anybody." One contractor, granted anonymity to discuss their work, warns about critical systems failing: "I'm worried as hell about IRS. How are they going to be able to do taxes this coming year with a fraction of the staff?"