AI, DevSecOps, and Modernizing the Public Sector with GitLab’s Joel Krooswyk

This week, we’re joined by Joel Krooswyk, Federal CTO at GitLab, to explore the critical issue of legacy IT systems in the public sector and how AI can be a game-changer in modernizing government IT infrastructures.

Key Topics We Cover:

1. The Legacy IT Challenge
   Many federal agencies still rely on outdated systems that are vulnerable to security risks, costly to maintain, and hinder the development of mission-critical applications. Joel discusses why these legacy systems are so challenging, particularly the issues with memory-unsafe languages and the high percentage of vulnerabilities they cause (70%).
2. AI as a Tool for IT Modernization
   With the lengthy process of modernizing legacy code, AI presents an opportunity to accelerate this journey. We explore how AI can help decode and refactor outdated systems, transforming them into more secure, modern, and memory-safe applications.
3. AI in the Software Development Lifecycle
   AI isn’t just for modernization—it's already making an impact. Joel highlights findings from GitLab’s report, showing that 35% of U.S. public sector organizations are already using AI in their software development lifecycle. We discuss how leveraging AI across the entire lifecycle can reduce silos, eliminate backlogs, and streamline development workflows.

This episode is packed with insights for anyone in the public sector or involved in IT modernization, from AI's potential to improve security to how it can transform development processes and accelerate mission-critical application delivery. 

 
Connect with Joel.

Joel Krooswyk

As federal CTO at GitLab Inc., Joel Krooswyk has over 25 years of experience in the software industry. His end-to-end software development life cycle expertise benefits customers and employees alike. Joel’s leadership experience spans not only the U.S. Public Sector, but also small, mid-market, and enterprise businesses globally. He’s an experienced leader, team builder, communicator, thought leader and researcher.

Joel’s expertise spans development, QA, product management, portfolio planning, and technical sales, and he has written a half million lines of unique code throughout his career. On an average day, you'll find him discussing software modernization, cybersecurity, governance and compliance, AI, ongoing digital transformation, and automation.

GitLab

GitLab is the most comprehensive AI-powered DevSecOps platform for software innovation that accelerates speed to mission. GitLab enables organizations to increase developer productivity, improve operational efficiency, reduce security and compliance risk, and accelerate digital transformation. More than 40 million registered users and more than 50% of the Fortune 100 trust GitLab to ship better, more secure software faster.