Kundra's leaving evokes some congrats, some good riddances

The government IT and social media communities must have positive attitudes or the never-extinguished entrepreneurial spirit, even as one of their leaders heads off to Harvard University. Or it's something else.

Vivek Kundra, the first-ever federal CIO who on June 16 announced his departure from the position in August, received numerous congratulations and a “way to go” on Facebook. Most of the tweets on his announcement were simple links to the available news stories. But those Twitterers who added their thoughts had upbeat comments. There was really no wailing or gnashing of teeth. They weren’t fearful of a sinking ship once Kundra’s gone.

“Sad to hear, but best of luck!” tweeted @Agent11.

Tweeters also acknowledged Kundra’s work.

“CIO Vivek Kundra leaving WH...bummer. He has been a huge advocate for cloud computing in the federal space,” tweeted @BeckyMaeW.

On the other hand, the flavor of comments on FCW was quite different.

Readers are glad he's gone. Many said good riddance -- don't let the door hit you on the way out.

"No pay freeze at Harvard and not sticking around to see if any of the 25 mandates really take...no surprise here. The Fed CIO was just a good step for climbing the personal success ladder," one reader wrote.

Another reader described Kundra.

"He was just like a seagull," wrote M from Reston. "He came in squawked a lot, messed all over the place and now he is flying away."

In Washington, D.C., the communities may have some deeper issues they never talk about. They live in a world where they know someone of such high position in an administration is destined to leave. It's a matter of when. The communities have learned to not get attached for fear of that broken heart. Some people however, may not have dealt with those feelings of heartache.

"First rat off the ship," one FCW reader wrote.

Other Twitterers looked past even the congratulations, or the good riddances, to bring up the next important part of the story.

“The choice of his replacement is a critical one,” @MAlexJohnson tweeted.

“Happy trails Vivek, who will take his place??” @peterk12 tweeted too.

@jakebrewer had a different thought though. Convince Kundra to forget Harvard and stay in Washington.

“Chant anyone? ‘Don’t. go. C.I.O.,” he tweeted.

I’m not sure I’ve heard any chanting, especially among some FCW readers.