USDS Alumni Network: Robbie Holmes
By: U.S. Digital Service
Tags: Interview, Government, Engineering, Civictech

USDS Alumni Network: Robbie Holmes

When you join USDS, you become part of a community that extends to life after your tour of duty. In this blog series, we share the stories of USDS Alumni. Find out what they worked on, where they are now, and why you should join us! U.S. Digital Service Follow Jan 5 · 5 min read

Robbie Holmes in the White House Press Briefing Room

Robbie Holmes (he/him), Vice President of Product Development at Pluribus Digital, previously Digital Service at the Department of Veterans Affairs (DSVA)

What projects did you work on during your time at USDS?

In my time at USDS, I started on the DSVA team that worked on Vets.gov and was detailed to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as the tech lead for the Asylum Assessment Generator team. I also worked on many procurement activities including supporting the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Farmers.gov, supporting the Department of Justice on ADA.gov and finished my tour back at the DSVA supporting the CTO’s office as the technical product owner for the content management system that was brought into the VA.gov ecosystem.

What inspired you to join USDS?

I read Mikey Dickerson’s post about Healthcare.gov where his first question was how do you know that the site is down, and they told him that they turn on the news and if they are talking about it, they are down. The idea of solving the small underlying issues will lead to success is how I have spent my career delivering and solving problems.

I was expecting to be there about one to two years but ended up being moved by the organization, people and values to stay for almost four years.

How did your work at USDS make an impact?

For part of my time at USDS, I was a member of the team that was responsible for Vets.gov that went on to inform and eventually become part of the VA.gov brand merger and provide the first login on the homepage of VA.gov. Later on, I worked at DHS on a project to support Asylum Officers and help streamline and make assessments of the Asylum seekers application and interview process. This was a prototype and pilot that eventually went on to become adopted by all asylum offices and was integrated into the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services case management system. At USDS, I was also able to support and assist with procurements at many agencies including the ultra-modern process that was implemented by USDA for Farmers.gov with support from USDS.

Did you feel effective during the time you served at USDS?

I was a member of USDS for almost 4 years and feel like I was able to be effective with the support of the previous USDS members and our business stakeholders. There is a great history of documentation that allows new USDSers to get up to speed quickly and then help support future USDS members.

Robbie Holmes at the USDS HQ office

How did USDS impact your career and life after your tour?

Having been a member and really living the core values for four years has changed me and influenced my choice of employer. Specifically, after my tour I joined as a founding member of the Digital Services Coalition (a non-profit that was founded based on the Digital Service Playbook created by USDS as a set of plays and best practices to deliver within government). Also my title is VP of Product Development with a subtitle of Digital Services Evangelist, and my job includes the bullet:

Industry Leadership — we aspire to be a part of transforming how government technology is created in general, shifting from tech and project focus to a digital product focus.

Why did you stick around USDS for so long?

I was expecting to be there about one to two years but ended up being moved by the organization, people and values to stay for almost four years. There is an amazing amount of work that still needs to be done, and I was able to support and impact multiple agencies and in the end come back to the Department of Veterans Affairs to become the technical product owner for the content management system for VA.gov. This gave me the ability to close the loop as an early member of Vets.gov and taking that work forward to the modern VA.gov solution.

What would you say to someone who’s thinking about applying to USDS, but isn’t sure they want to work in government?

Working in government is some of the most important work that you will ever do, and working as a member of USDS will provide you the ability to work on highly impactful projects assisting agencies providing benefits to the public and will have high level of support within the agency to be able to get things done!