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Staying with the US Digital Service

mattcutts.com

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Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#211

Post by mc32 »

dragonwriter wrote: post #195
mc32 wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many advanced countries require people of a certain age to do a stint in the military. I think a volunteer force is preferable to a conscripted force.

A volunteer force is definitely superior if you want to limit the concern of the general population about wars and make making war politically easier for the ruling class, which was a major consideration in the US switching to an all-volunteer force.

A volunteer professional force is better prepared than one composed of essentially transient members, so casualty rates, should they need to enter battle should be lower than a conscripted military.

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#212

Post by Matt_Cutts »

jdmath wrote: post #149
Matt_Cutts wrote: post #2

Let me know if folks have any questions, but I left Google on Dec. 31, 2016.

Not a question, I wanted to say that I am impressed with vets.gov and the pace of improvement. Thank you and your team for the work that you do! I can see it getting way better than ebenefits. Hoping it will allow vets more access to their information such as C-File and medical records without a FOIA request.

I love vets.gov. Starting with benefits was great, but secure messaging with doctors, filling prescriptions--there's lots of great stuff going on there.

While I've got you, are there 2-3 things that you would most like to see on vets.gov in the future?

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#213

Post by redtapemachete »

pryelluw wrote: post #121

What's the interview process like? What technologies are common?

Interview process =

Apply on usds.gov -> Your resume is scored -> Technical interview (akin to Goog/twitter/amazon) -> EQ interview (can you handle the super weird work and environment?) -> technical interview (similar to first to follow up on any missing info) -> Interview feedback is reviewed by hiring panel to make sure folks are minimally qualified -> Agency team leads compete to make offers to qualified candidates -> candidates accept one of the offer(s). You can be dropped at any step and not proceed. Everyone on staff hates turning people down, because people only apply if they care deeply about helping others. We are forever grateful for folks who throw their hat in the ring.

Technologies run from COBOL (not kidding) to node. At 18F you will get to work exclusively in a modern stack, at USDS we're looking for people who are willing and able to scrub in to fix X, no matter what tech is in the way. The work is always oriented around solving a problem for humans, regardless of the stack.

If the greatest python dev ever applied, but couldn't creatively solve problems for a system that was built in powerbuilder 5.0 (lol/sob), we couldn't use her.

*USDS employee

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#215

Post by RileyKyeden »

khuey wrote: post #73
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…

"we want to make government work better for the American people." Sadly I don't think this is a non-partisan goal these days.

The goal of better government is non-partisan outside the drown-it-in-the-bathtub fringe. How to go about it is what leads to contention.

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#217

Post by pryelluw »

redtapemachete wrote: post #213
pryelluw wrote: post #121

What's the interview process like? What technologies are common?

Interview process = Apply on usds.gov -> Your resume is scored -> Technical interview (akin to Goog/twitter/amazon) -> EQ interview (can you handle the super weird work and environment?) -> technical interview (similar to first to follow up on any missing info) -> Interview feedback is reviewed by hiring panel to make sure folks are minimally qualified -> Agency team leads compete to make offers to qualified candidat…

Thanks for the detailed response.

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#218

Post by mzs »

usds_app_throw wrote: post #193

As a new grad, the USDS was my top choice but I was constantly stonewalled by recruiters saying that I wasn't experienced enough. For the USDS engineers on the thread--does the work really require 5+ years of work experience? Is there really no place for a passionate and moderately-experienced junior engineer in the organization? I would quit my job in a heartbeat if I got an offer.

Don't use recruiters for gov jobs, just go to the website and apply.

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#219

Post by avn2109 »

kchoudhu wrote: post #208
avn2109 wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> "...will you build a Muslim registry..." I don't support Trump or the unconstitutional American deep state, but you realize there is already a Muslim registry right? In fact there are probably several competing implementations in various intelligence agencies, with substantially overlapping contents. Probably almost every agency has the capability to run select first_name, last_name, home_address from us_residents…

I've filled out multiple hundreds of pages of visa and immigration forms, and I have never had to tell them what religion I am. Barring the use of country of origin or other specious proxies for religion, the feds still have no idea what religion I am. Heuristic searches for muslims definitely exist - but they aren't as simple as you make them out to be.

They don't get the data for the (existing) Muslim registry by asking you. Just like the Stasi didn't send out a pre-persecution questionnaire to identify Catholics.

Re: Staying with the US Digital Service

#220

Post by Matt_Cutts »

wslack wrote: post #53
Keverw wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the explanation. I was just curious since I know I have seen posts about 18F here on HN before which sounded like very similar work. This is the first time I heard of USDS and as an outsider to government tech, they both looked the same to me. But that makes totally sense to me now, sounds like with the different funding and offices they work on slightly different projects and problems then but still tech.…

* I work at 18F I think the press articles that sometimes lump it all together can be frustrating at times and I like Matt's descriptions above. Another important difference: when USDS attends a meeting it's the "White House" in the room, whereas 18F sitting in GSA (which does other things like support government real estate) gives us a different context. We both, though, benefit immensely from strong civil servants…

I couldn't agree more with this.
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