IT Technical Advisor

Update: Please note that an administrative error was identified, in which the questions for the asset qualifications were duplicated. In the text questions section of your application, please take note of the instructions for each question.

Important messages

We are committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free work environment, starting with the hiring process. If you need to be accommodated during any phase of the evaluation process, please use the Contact information below to request specialized accommodation. All information received in relation to accommodation will be kept confidential.

Assessment accommodation

On October 6, 2021, the Government of Canada announced details (https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/news/2021/10/backgrounder-covid-19-vaccine-requirement-for-the-federal-workforce.html) of its plans to require vaccination across the federal public service.

As per the new Policy on COVID-19 Vaccination for the Core Public Administration Including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (https://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=32694), federal public servants in the Core Public Administration and members of the RCMP must attest to their vaccination status. The requirement for employees to be fully vaccinated applies whether they are teleworking, working remotely, or working on-site. This is a condition of employment and it applies to indeterminate (permanent), determinate (term), casual, and student hiring. Should you reach the point in the selection process where it is necessary to verify terms and conditions of employment, you will be contacted to complete an attestation of vaccination status.”

When submitting an application to this selection process, you will be prompted to answer screening questions concerning the essential education and experience qualifications and, if applicable, other (nonessential) qualifications.

It is NOT sufficient to only state that the qualifications are met or to provide a listing of current or past responsibilities. Rather you must clearly demonstrate HOW, WHEN, and WHERE the qualification was met through substantiation by examples.

Information on your described skills, experience, etc. provided in the screening questions should be supported by your resume. Failure to provide the above information in the format required may result in your application being rejected from the process.

Candidates may not be solicited for incomplete or possible missing information. Resumes may be used as a secondary source to validate the experience and education described in the screening questions.

INSTRUCTIONS
When recording your examples, be sure you:
• Provide concrete, specific examples of actions that speak directly to the experience sought.
• Choose examples with sufficient complexity, impact and degree of difficulty that will allow you to illustrate to what extent and depth you have shown the behaviours expected for each qualification.
• Focus on what you did. In referring to an experience achieved in the context of a team, set your role apart from the role(s) of others.
• Please describe the achievements in the past tense. This will help to ensure that you are providing concrete examples, rather than making general statements (e.g. instead of saying “I work well within a team….” you can say “I worked well with a team when….”).
• Use action verbs when describing your experience i.e. lead, managed, organized, planned, prepared, informed, determined, etc.
• Provide all examples in sentence format.
• Each example must include when the example took place, background of each situation, what you did, how you did it, what your role was in the situation, and what was the outcome.

Work environment

EVERYONE IS WELCOME: Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) is committed to building an inclusive workforce with a diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds that represents Canada now and in the future. We are passionate about fostering a workplace where all people feel welcome, can reach their full potential, and contribute their unique perspectives and experience to the success of the team.

Intent of the process

The intent of this process is to establish a pool of qualified candidates which could be used to staff similar or identical positions with various tenures, workplace arrangements, language requirements, and/or security clearance levels in various Federal Government Departments or Agencies, in various locations.

Positions to be filled: Number to be determined

Information you must provide

Your résumé.

In order to be considered, your application must clearly explain how you meet the following (essential qualifications)

Education
Graduation from a two-year program of study from a recognized post-secondary institution with acceptable specialization in computer science, information technology, information management or another specialty relevant to the position to be staffed.

Note:
1. Indeterminate incumbents in the IT group on December 9, 2021 who do not possess the education prescribed above, are deemed to meet the minimum education standard based on their education, training and/or experience. They must be accepted as having met the minimum education standard whenever this standard is called for when staffing positions in the IT group.
2. Indeterminate incumbents of positions in the CS group on May 10, 1999, who do not possess the education prescribed above, are deemed to meet the minimum education standard based on their education, training and/or experience. They must be accepted as having met the minimum education standard whenever this standard is called for when staffing positions in the IT group.
3. At the manager’s discretion, an acceptable combination of education, training and/or experience may serve as an alternative to the minimum education stated above. Whenever the minimum education is met using this alternative, it is met for the specific position only and must be re-assessed for other positions for which this alternative has been specified by the manager.

Degree equivalency

Experience

1. Recent and significant experience in gathering and analyzing business and technical requirements and providing technical advice to various stakeholders in the delivery of complex IM/IT applications.

2. Recent and significant experience in the delivery of IM/IT applications with a minimum of two (2) of the following services:

• Programming
• System Design
• Integration
• Software Testing (Unit, Integration, System and/or Regression)
• Data Warehouse Architectures/Design
• Data Modeling - Designs
• Data Utilities Design/Architecture (e.g., data pump, data dictionary, business intelligence tools, extract transform and load platform etc.)
• Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning

3. Recent and significant experience in programming and/or supporting a minimum of two (2) of the following technologies:

• C# using .NET Framework
• Java using Model-View-Controller Frameworks (e.g. Struts2)
• Javascript using Front-End Frameworks (e.g. React, Angular, Ionic)
• PL/SQL or SQL
• Adobe Experience Manager (AEM)
• Powerbuilder
• Business intelligence tool (e.g., Cognos Analytics, PowerBI)
• Data modeling tools (e.g., Framework Manager, PowerBI, Erwin)
• MS CRM Dynamics or MS Dynamics 365
• Python
• PHP in Drupal Development
• C++ or Oracle Pro-C

Essential Experience Qualifications Definitions
“Recent experience” is defined as experience gained within the last five (5) years.
“Significant experience” is defined as the depth and breadth of experience that is normally associated with approximately three (3) years or more.
“Management” is defined as Manager level and above.
“Complex IM/IT problems” are defined as problems which can occur within a multi-tier, multi- technology corporate enterprise IM/IT environment.
“Complex IM/IT applications” are defined as systems which utilize multiple technologies communicating over a variety of platforms in a corporate, enterprise IM/IT environment.

The following will be applied / assessed at a later date (essential for the job)

Various language requirements
Bilingual imperative BBB/BBB, BBC/BBC, CBC/CBC, CCC/CCC and English Essential

Information on language requirements

Abilities

1. Ability to communicate orally
2. Ability to communicate in writing
3. Ability to assist clients to validate and prioritize requirements when conducting initial assessment of scope of work. (e.g. Business Requirements)
4. Ability to analyse complex IM/IT problems and develop practical technical solutions to solve these problems and make informed recommendations
5. Ability to effectively present knowledge on one(1) of the following IT concepts:
• Object Oriented Design
• Working with Web Services / Application Programming Interfaces(APIs)
• Design Patterns
• Micro services
• Database design
• Machine learning

Personal Suitabilities

1. Thinking
2. Client Focus
3. Decision Making
4. Planning & Organizing
5. Initiative
6. Effective Interpersonal Relationships

The following may be applied / assessed at a later date (may be needed for the job)

Asset Qualifications

Experience
1. 1. Recent experience writing IT strategies
2. Recent experience working in an Agile/Scrum development environment
3. Recent experience working with Git-based version control system
4. Recent experience working with Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines
5. Recent experience with Artifact managers (eg: Artifactory, NuGet)
6. Recent experience with queuing technology (eg: MQ Series, JMS, Oracle advanced queueing)
7. Recent experience with web experience toolkit (WET)
8. Recent experience with Powershell
9. Recent experience with Test Automation tools (eg: Selenium, SpecFlow)
10. Recent experience with Gherkin
11. Recent experience with Cognos Analytics
12. Recent Experience with IBM Rational Testing Tools
13. Recent experience in the administration of Microsoft 365.
14. Recent experience in IT administration in a commercial cloud provider environment.
15. Recent experience in utilizing Government of Canada wide IT security policies and initiatives
16. Experience as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces
17. Experience working at Veterans Affairs Canada

Asset Experience Qualifications Definitions
“Experience” is defined as the depth and breadth of experience that is normally associated with approximately two (2) years or more.
“Recent experience” is defined as experience gained within the last five (5) years.

Organizational Needs

In support of achieving a diversified workforce, consideration may be given to candidates self-identifying as belonging to one of the following Employment Equity groups: Aboriginal peoples, persons with a disability, visible minorities and women.

Operational Requirements:

The operational requirement to work non-standard/traditional work hours and/or On-Call
Willingness to travel.
Willing and able to work overtime.

Conditions of employment

Conditions of Employment:
Reliability Status
Some positions could require a Secret security level.

The Policy on COVID-19 Vaccination for the Core Public Administration including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police requires you to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and that you attest to your vaccination status prior to the date of your appointment unless accommodated based on a medical contraindication, religion, or another prohibited ground for discrimination as defined under the Canadian Human Rights Act. You can find more specific information on the collection and use of your personal information when you submit your attestation.

Other information

The Public Service of Canada is committed to building a skilled and diverse workforce that reflects the Canadians we serve. We promote employment equity and encourage you to indicate if you belong to one of the designated groups when you apply.

Information on employment equity

The Public Service of Canada is committed to building a skilled and diverse workforce that reflects the Canadians we serve. We promote employment equity and encourage you to indicate if you belong to one of the targeted groups when you apply.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your email and contact information are maintained with the hiring board. All communication for this process will be sent by email and it is your responsibility to verify your messages regularly.

Education and/or Experience factors in the asset qualifications may be used for screening. Applicants should clearly demonstrate on their application if they meet any of the education and/or experience asset qualifications.

One or more asset qualifications may be used during the screening to manage the volume of applications.

Candidates will be asked to provide proof of their education credentials at a later date.

When you apply for this process, please keep in mind that most essential merit criteria (education, experience and competencies) will be assessed by the answers you provide in your online application. As a result, please ensure you allow yourself a significant amount of time to complete this application.

An interview and/or written exam may be administered.

Reference checks may be sought.

The Assessment Committee reserves the right to contact references other than those provided by the candidates (within the Public Service only) in order to adequately assess the candidates.

PLEASE NOTE: All information must be provided through the “apply online” application process. Do not fax, mail, email or drop-off a hard copy application as these will not be accepted. To apply in an alternate format due to disability, you must contact the email address indicated in the "Contact information" section below PRIOR to the Closing Date.

Veterans Affairs Canada offers a variety of flexible work arrangements.

Preference

Preference will be given to veterans first and then to Canadian citizens and permanent residents, with the exception of a job located in Nunavut, where Nunavut Inuit will be appointed first.

Information on the preference to veterans

We thank all those who apply. Only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.