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Staying with the US Digital Service

mattcutts.com

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Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#71

Post by throwaway9865 »

Hi Looking at the salary and that I'm in Baltimore making $135k as Sr. UI/UXer (designing/coding sites apps for Govt agencies) I'm not sure the salary range of up to $163k would be worth it. That's probably not for UI/UXers or is it?

My rent here in Baltimore with utilities is 2k ... if I moved to D.C. A lot of the additional salary would be absorbed by the doubling or tripling my cost of rent.

Thus I wonder why remote positions and or a mix of remote and on site one day a week is not being offered?

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#72

Post by spoon16 »

eikenberry wrote: post #60
spoon16 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live outside of Seattle. But nearly all of the work I do with USDS requires me to be physically present. So I travel a lot (4/5 days a week). You aren't going to find a badly broken technology project in the Federal Government that is able to leverage remote people effectively.

I'm a developer and devops guy. If I have to be physically present for anything, something is very wrong.

I agree with you. Most of our work is on projects where something is very wrong.

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#73

Post by khuey »

Matt_Cutts wrote: post #12
ipsin wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since you pitch the USDS to tech people, please let us know: how free do you feel to speak your mind on political matters, or to effect those positive outcomes? Personally I've judged the quality of incoming political appointees, and I would chafe at working under leadership I could not respect. In my worst imagination, I would be holding down a desk until it could be filled by the employees of well-connected contrac…

First I'll add the disclaimer that this is my personal opinion. I'm not speaking for anyone other than myself. I think the mission of the US Digital Service is fundamentally non-partisan: we want to make government work better for the American people. When a veteran can apply for health benefits online, they have a better experience. But it also saves the money from them driving to see someone in person. There's so m…

"we want to make government work better for the American people."

Sadly I don't think this is a non-partisan goal these days.

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#75

Post by myrion »

stale2002 wrote: post #63
learc83 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you must follow it or resign--those are the only options, per your civil service oath. Those aren't your only options. Your other options are to stay in and leak information. Stay in and try to damage the project etc... I don't know what I'd do if I were in the position to damage, delay, or stop something as blatantly unconstitutional as a Muslim registration database, but I hope that I'd be able to muster to the c…

Then they should have acted 8 years ago, because the "Muslim registery" already exists under Obama

Surely you have evidence of this?

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#76

Post by khuey »

general_ai wrote: post #59
eragoins wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wondering if you would say the same of people protesting in Hong Kong, Russia, or Saudi Arabia. Should they also "act like adults" and "go out there and put in the hard work?" Depending on a person's life experiences, it causes them to draw the line at different places. So I don't think it's fair to say those people display "feigned outrage and pearl clutching," while _this_ specific way is the adult way.

Speaking of Russia (which is the only one of those countries/localities that I can speak for, since I grew up there), I will say that Putin is inarguably the best thing that happened to Russia in the past 100 years.

Not very many good things have happened to Russia in the last 100 years.

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#77

Post by stale2002 »

myrion wrote: post #75
stale2002 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then they should have acted 8 years ago, because the "Muslim registery" already exists under Obama

Surely you have evidence of this?

Sure. The program has a name. It is called NSEERS.

The info about it is all available publicly.

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#78

Post by tobltobs »

iblaine wrote: post #69

> Working for the government doesn’t pay as well as a big company in Silicon Valley. We don’t get any free lunches. Many days are incredibly frustrating. All I can tell you is that the work is deeply important and inspiring, and you have a chance to work on things that genuinely make peoples’ lives better. Pretty easy thing to say when you already have millions in your bank account.

Without millions in in your bank account you wont be starving working for the USDS either.

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#79

Post by woof »

general_ai wrote: post #59
eragoins wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wondering if you would say the same of people protesting in Hong Kong, Russia, or Saudi Arabia. Should they also "act like adults" and "go out there and put in the hard work?" Depending on a person's life experiences, it causes them to draw the line at different places. So I don't think it's fair to say those people display "feigned outrage and pearl clutching," while _this_ specific way is the adult way.

Speaking of Russia (which is the only one of those countries/localities that I can speak for, since I grew up there), I will say that Putin is inarguably the best thing that happened to Russia in the past 100 years.

Even better than Stalin?

Or was your use of the word "inarguably" some kind of code?

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#80

Post by thogenhaven »

new_hackers wrote: post #4

What is the mood like with Trump coming into office? Is USDS going to remain alive and well?

There is a good article about it here: https://backchannel.com/the-final-days-of-obamas-tech-surge-...

"I also spoke to a number of former team members. Publicly, almost all of them expressed optimism that the work would continue: The transition was proceeding cordially, the efforts to reform government IT were bipartisan, and Congress would back their efforts, which had already saved money for taxpayers and delivered services for citizens. But lurking behind every statement was an existential dread that Donald Trump would either pull the plug on one of the great achievements of the last eight years, or worse — he might order the best and brightest to work on projects that violated their moral codes. If those fears were confirmed, it would mean the end of one of the most inspiring developments in government in years — and a backwards step for a bureaucracy that had for too long ignored the nation’s most powerful tools."

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