ELGL’s mission is to connect, communicate, and educate. In this ongoing series, ELGL members tell the story of why they chose a local government career.
Shahrzad Rizvi (LinkedIn and Twitter) has a served as a Management Analyst at the City of Dallas, TX and recently accepted a position at Dallas County, TX as a Budget & Policy Analyst. He works, lives and plays in downtown Dallas.
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I started working in local government when…
…I interned at the City of Dallas Code Compliance department during my 2nd year in grad school. I was a study abroad advisor before serving in local government. It was an interesting transition from global to hyper-local.
My most frustrating experience in local government was…
…in my first week I was denied access to a City’s internal dataset that would help us better deliver services. I wanted to establish a link between datasets to benefit both departments, but was categorically denied for a lame reason.
My top three career accomplishments are….
- finding $1M+ of licensing base by scouring through appraisal data.
- designing and installing an electronic court docket display using Rasbperry Pi‘s.
- auditing City of Dallas departments for ISO 9001 quality management.
When no one else is in the car, I…
…wish I was on two wheels; my bicycle or my motorcycle.
Right now, I am working on…
….drafting the County’ “Management Report”. I’m looking to redesign the infoviz’s to convey financial information more clearly. I’m I huge fan of ‘human centered design‘
Here are three tips for interviewing…
- Employ the “Briefcase Technique“
- Ask everyone and anyone if they can provide information about the city, department or person that the position will be reporting to
- Study the website of the entity to understand what challenges they may encounter and craft responses relevant to those challenges.
In terms of telling the local government story, I think local government…
…..is where the rubber meets the road in the sense that service provisions are tangible and not concepts of law. Local gov’t is the application of words (policies or laws) to real life.
My Super Bowl pick was…
……Green Bay Packers should’ve made it! I’m not only a fan, I’m a part-owner!
I aspire to…
……enable more open source software to be deployed in our local governments. For stewards of the ‘public purse’, there is nothing better than reliable, scalable and free.
You should have asked me…
……”What are your current projects at your local makerspace?” and “Are 3D printers in libraries a good idea?” They Are!
My Story Archives
- Brandon Turner, City of Roanoke, VA
- Cassie Tucker, City of Southlake, TX
- Jim Healy, Village of Richfield, WI
- Matt Monedero, City of Garland, TX
- Justin Tramble, State Bar of Georgia
- Aimee Kane, City of Boulder, CO
- Jessica Beise, City of Victoria, MN
- Emily Vincent, City of Olathe, KS
- Toy Beeninga, City of Fort Lauderdale, FL
- Heidi York, Person County (NC) Manager
- Barack Matite, City of Eudora, KS
- Cathy Wilson, Town of Carrboro, NC
- India Adams, Albemarle County, VA
- Derek Matheson, Kent (WA) Chief Administrative Officer
- Darwin Wade, City of Grand Prairie, TX
- Adam Lincoln, City of Lakewood, WA