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Join the U.S. Digital Service

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Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#211

Post by mcguire »

beerbajay wrote: post #73
bluthru wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'll hate them even more: They're one reason why taxes are more complicated than they should/could be. http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/04/auto...

Here in Sweden you receive a fully-filled-in tax declaration from the Tax Office. For 99% of people with normal jobs, all you have to do is confirm the declaration on their website OR by sending an SMS OR by calling a telephone number OR by using their app.

Many people with "normal jobs" in the U.S. can file the 1040EZ, which at least originally almost fit on a post-card. (http://www.irs.gov/uac/Form-1040EZ,-Income-Tax-Return-for-Si...)

(I wouldn't know, actually; I've apparently never had a "normal job".)

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#212

Post by worklogin »

pmorici wrote: post #157
sloanesturz wrote: post #77

I would love to see a program like ROTC -- the government pays for you to get a CS degree and then you work for the Digital Service to start your career. You end up being 26 with a great education and a solid work experience under your belt. Seems like a win-win!

That has already existed for at least the past decade or more. It's called the Cyber Corps. Granted it's focused on computer security and doesn't come with the ego boost that being crammed in a small room at the White House seems to give people here but it is a CS/engineering scholarship for service program. https://www.sfs.opm.gov/

As someone in the 20-35 bracket who works in cyber-security, I have never heard of this program. I was never told about it in high school, in my CS program, nor have I heard of it at work.

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#213

Post by driverdan »

sliverstorm wrote: post #17
tdaltonc wrote: post #14

It would be really great to fix the IRS's digital presence. Make TurboTax obsolete. I hate TurboTax.

Same goes for the DMV, as well as countless other citizen-facing government orgs. Math & administration is really the roots of computing. Edit: I'm rather unclear what is objectionable here.

DMV is a state agency though so it's a lot more complex than national agencies.

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#214

Post by catherinedevlin »

blahwoop wrote: post #194
catherinedevlin wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand your skepticism - I left Federal contracting years ago in disgust at the way things have been working, or not working. But 18F convinced me that they have the key to change that - completely with regard to their own work, and then with a wider ripple effect. That's something I couldn't pass up; I turned down a dream job in the private sector for 18F. Six months later, I'm more convinced and excited than…

is 18F the USDS or are they separate entities?

We are technically separate from USDS, but we're in close cooperation and constant communication with regard to overall strategy, hiring, technical and cultural techniques, and seriously watch out for those guys at Board Game Night. Basically we're BFFs.

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#215

Post by catherinedevlin »

ipsin wrote: post #154
BrandonY wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no expertise here, but here's my understanding: 1) Yes, especially if you've worked for some big name, non-government tech companies. 2) Absolutely not. The salary is MISERABLE compared to what you could get in the private sector. That's the real problem. The government desperately needs world class software engineers, but the private sector can effectively buy them all away. Who would try and fix the busted o…

That's what I was afraid of. The thing is, the government seems to have been happy enough in the past to throw hundreds of millions of dollars to contractors, who could then parcel it out to employees and bank the rest. I'm all for cutting out the middleman in that case, but I think the government needs to determine the price point at which they actually get the talent they need.

USDS got Alex Gaynor. Freaking Alex Gaynor, l'enfant terrible of the Python universe. They're definitely getting talent.

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#216

Post by nadams »

tymekpavel wrote: post #187
nadams wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The salary is MISERABLE compared to what you could get in the private sector. That all depends. Many comp sci students are brainwashed to think that if a salary isn't at least 100k then it's not worth their time. The fact is that it depends on location and cost of living. For example - if you get hired to work for Google in their HQ in CA then you are guaranteed to get at least 100k salary. However, 90% of that wil…

90%? If you're willing to commute from Redwood City (15min CalTrain ride to MV, 35 minute CalTrain tride to SF), you'll be paying $1500-2000/mo for a 1br-2br/1ba. That comes to 24% of salary, and you'd be hard-pressed to spend more than another 6% on food.

Rent alone would come out to about 50% of your take home pay[1] (estimated of course - you would probably get less depending on benefits). Assuming if you hunted you might be able to rent for $1500, but from zillow[2] the rent appears to be from $2-4k+. If you showed me an apartment for $1.5k and the average is $2k I would want to know what is wrong with it.

In my suburban area - I could get a mortgage for a $100k house with at least 2br for about $500/month.

Of course people at Google probably don't get paid exactly $100k but keeping in mind a good sized chunk of that is just going toward living there.

[1] - http://www.calculator.net/take-home-pay-calculator.html?cann...

[2] - http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_rent/Redwood-City-CA/house,c...

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#217

Post by chaqke »

vonmoltke wrote: post #195
tymekpavel wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

90%? If you're willing to commute from Redwood City (15min CalTrain ride to MV, 35 minute CalTrain tride to SF), you'll be paying $1500-2000/mo for a 1br-2br/1ba. That comes to 24% of salary, and you'd be hard-pressed to spend more than another 6% on food.

"Hard pressed" to spend more than $17/day on food?

easily pressed to spend more than $17/day on food if you go out, but many tech jobs provide at least a meal (so you can work more)

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#218

Post by chaqke »

nadams wrote: post #216
tymekpavel wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

90%? If you're willing to commute from Redwood City (15min CalTrain ride to MV, 35 minute CalTrain tride to SF), you'll be paying $1500-2000/mo for a 1br-2br/1ba. That comes to 24% of salary, and you'd be hard-pressed to spend more than another 6% on food.

Rent alone would come out to about 50% of your take home pay[1] (estimated of course - you would probably get less depending on benefits). Assuming if you hunted you might be able to rent for $1500, but from zillow[2] the rent appears to be from $2-4k+. If you showed me an apartment for $1.5k and the average is $2k I would want to know what is wrong with it. In my suburban area - I could get a mortgage for a $100k ho…

Some easy numbers: 1k/month is ~12k/year, which is ~15-18k of pre-tax salary.

To re-emphasize, 1k/month in lower rent is worth 15-18k of salary.

I have friends paying more than $2k/month more than me, which is around a negative 40k raise (I live in San Francisco, but share).

It's very easy for humans to misinterpret recurring costs.

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#219

Post by kazagistar »

Here is what worries me:

Right now, the complexity of regulations and procedures is kept in check by the inability for bureaucrats to manually execute them. Full automation might not lead to a simplification of how people interact with the government; it might just result in the ability to add even more regulation, beyond normal human capabilities.

We have a world where bureaucratic complexity means few people can navigate it, but we might just be growing a world where no one can navigate it without paying a lot of money to established software companies to do it for them.

Automation is good, but we shouldn't let it hide the need to simplify.

Re: Join the U.S. Digital Service

#220

Post by nether »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #68
nether wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try applying for a hiking permit. Some CA ranger stations take only snail mail or, wait for it, fax.

So build a website and send the permits in using a service like Phaxio.com (Fax API). Show your local rep, get it funded.

This is the cutest thing I've seen posted on HN in days. Keep it up, scamp. Stay positive :^)
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