Staying with the US Digital Service • Hacker News Board

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#131

Post by eddieroger » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 1:37 PM UTC

easychewie wrote: post #19

Matt_Cutts wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> First I'll add the disclaimer that this is my personal opinion. I'm not speaking for anyone other than myself. And there it is. One of many reasons I'll never work for the government again. The government is so PC-sensitive that dude can't even post on HN without a mildly disguised form of legalese. When I was in the Air Force, everything I said had to be prefaced with The views expressed in this article are those…

You're pretty lucky to have never been in a position where you could be misconstrued as speaking for your employer, regardless of who they are. The Internet has basically neutralized the PR departments of any organization, governmental or otherwise, that wishes to control a message. CEOs tweeting about a bad day could have actual financial impacts. In this case, Matt doesn't speak for the USDS or the United States Government, he's sharing his opinions. That is not PC, it's protocol. That disclaimer could also have referred to his time at Google - he, personally, thought shutting down Google Reader was a bad idea, but Google, as a corporation, clearly did not, so his statement does not represent Google.

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#132

Post by johnward » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 1:40 PM UTC

spoon16 wrote: post #38

eikenberry wrote: post #32

Why do they not have a remote work option?

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.

Is the travel paid for by the USDS?

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#133

Post by topbagsvk » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 1:41 PM UTC

For all we know, some might have participated, through a government or a third-party contract that did not specify exact goals of the project. http://www.bagsforsaled.com/designer-handbags.html

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#134

Post by codelitt » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 1:41 PM UTC

verst wrote: post #18

Congrats Matt. It was a pleasure to meet you at the USDS ice cream social last fall. Today was my last day at 18F. I'm returning to private sector, for now. I'm proud of what we accomplished in building cloud.gov. I think 2017 will be a big year for the platform.

Wow! Just took a look at the pricing page[^1]. This seems like a very expensive service. What makes it cost so much in comparison to what we see in the private sector? There's some info here[^2], but it's pretty general.

[1]: https://cloud.gov/overview/pricing/rates/

[2]: https://cloud.gov/overview/pricing/pricing-model/

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#135

Post by dkhenry » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 1:45 PM UTC

throwaway9865 wrote: post #71

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 remo…

I understand your feeling, and even if you could get to the 163k pay rate (which you might not) you would be looking at a different lifestyle. Its important to go into the process knowing that a Job at the USDS isn't going to make the most financial sense, many people have turned down packages many multiples of 163k for the opportunity to make a difference on a scale that people would only dream about. If your not excited about the impact I think you would wash out after only a few weeks.

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#136

Post by dkhenry » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 1:48 PM UTC

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.

As someone who doesn't have millions in his bank account, I can tell you that everything Matt is saying applies to us poor folk too.

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#137

Post by akmiller » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 1:52 PM UTC

kristianc wrote: post #101

trentmb wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you must follow it or resign--those are the only options, per your civil service oath. What's the difference between bureaucratic incompetence and sabotage?

Building it in MongoDB would probably give plausible deniability.

...or use ElasticSearch as your store of durable record

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#138

Post by dkhenry » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 1:52 PM UTC

eikenberry wrote: post #61

Matt_Cutts wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of the USDS agency teams do have a remote work option. For example, the Defense Digital Service operates out of the Pentagon, but they have remote folks in Boston, New York, and Colorado.

Good to know. I was just going on their hiring page (linked to at end of blog) which said you'd have to relocate to DC.

If your considering applying ( which you should be ) I would implore you to relocate, while its a major sacrifice you will be more effective in person that you could ever be remotely

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#139

Post by hydrogen18 » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 1:55 PM UTC

learc83 wrote: post #48

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One of the USDS project selection criteria is that we prioritize work that based on what will do the greatest good for the greatest number of people in the greatest need The USDS is a taxpayer-funded public entity. The "greatest good..." is determined by the law, written by our duly elected representatives. You don't get to serve the public and selectively reject the law. If the Congress passes a law you disagree w…

> 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…

As opposed to what, conducting surveillance on basically every citizen in the nation? That was just dandy. But a Muslim registry, now you're going to get all uppity about that?

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#140

Post by akmiller » Thu, Jan 19, 2017, 1:58 PM UTC

Matt, are you not concerned that the USDS could be removed with the transitioning of President Trump. If I'm not mistaken it's part of the executive office so not only could it be undone, but it could be undone swiftly with the stroke of a pen. Seems like a risky move at this time!