If you're curious how the Pentagon's IT pros compare to your own, you might want to look into the federal government's Information Technology Exchange Program. To share technology know-how between the public and private sectors, the Department of Defense has joined other government agencies in swapping IT workers with industry, reports InformationWeek's Elizabeth Montalbano.

The worker-swap program aims to spread best practices between the government and commercial sector, focusing on service-oriented architecture, cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, cloud computing and mobile devices. The Department of Homeland Security has a similar exchange program underway.

IT professionals involved in the exchange work from three to 12 months in the program, and are paid by their permanent employer. They have to be mid-career U.S. citizens.

"The Defense Department recognizes that sharing information and leveraging best practices are critical components of education and continuous learning," said Teri Takai, CIO for the Defense Department, in a statement. "ITEP provides an opportunity for both industry and DoD to learn from each other--to enhance employees' IT competencies and technical skills."

For more:
- see Elizabeth Montalbano's article at InformationWeek

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