Oct 9, 2026 · 27 min · 9 segments
In this episode, Rusty Pickens shares his extensive experience working with the federal government and tribal nations on IT modernization, AI integration, and public sector technology challenges…
Jimmy HuberHost
Um, so yeah, it, it is very interesting 'cause the federal government, I think, is technically, like, the world's largest corporation, basically, right?
So of course, they need their own IT support and everything to, you know, function and, and do all the departments.
So are you, like, in a specific vertical or a, a niche inside? Or like, how, how does that even start once you get into, you know, being a contractor and working with the feds?
I think the first one is, um, maybe just first impressions when I came into government.
So, um, much like you, you know, we, we had worked on this camp- I had worked in tribal government, which was, you know, one-one-hundredth of the size.
Um, so I was familiar with that, and it's, it's big and it's bureaucratic and it's slow, and you kinda want it to be that way, you know? And so that's the government angle.
And then on the campaign, on the other hand, like, we were working from coffee shops and on Wi-Fi hotspots and doing online fundraising and all this, so we were very far out on the bleeding edge back in those days.
And so then you come into government, and man, that was one of the first things that surprised many of us techie political appointees in 2008 and '09 was that, um, if you wanted to get any work done, you had to go into this big brutalist concrete building in downtown Washington, DC, and go into a cubicle with your little card and start up a Dell OptiPlex, and that was where your workstation was.
And some people had a BlackBerry, and that was a status symbol, you know, and they were the coolest guys around 'cause they had-
Um, so yeah, it, it is very interesting 'cause the federal government, I think, is technically, like, the world's largest corporation, basically, right?
So of course, they need their own IT support and everything to, you know, function and, and do all the departments.
So are you, like, in a specific vertical or a, a niche inside? Or like, how, how does that even start once you get into, you know, being a contractor and working with the feds?
I think the first one is, um, maybe just first impressions when I came into government.
So, um, much like you, you know, we, we had worked on this camp- I had worked in tribal government, which was, you know, one-one-hundredth of the size.
Um, so I was familiar with that, and it's, it's big and it's bureaucratic and it's slow, and you kinda want it to be that way, you know? And so that's the government angle.
And then on the campaign, on the other hand, like, we were working from coffee shops and on Wi-Fi hotspots and doing online fundraising and all this, so we were very far out on the bleeding edge back in those days.
And so then you come into government, and man, that was one of the first things that surprised many of us techie political appointees in 2008 and '09 was that, um, if you wanted to get any work done, you had to go into this big brutalist concrete building in downtown Washington, DC, and go into a cubicle with your little card and start up a Dell OptiPlex, and that was where your workstation was.
And some people had a BlackBerry, and that was a status symbol, you know, and they were the coolest guys around 'cause they had-
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