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US Tech Force

techforce.gov

51–60 of 320 posts

Re: US Tech Force

#51

> Participants will work on high-impact technology initiatives including AI implementation, application development, data modernization, and digital service delivery across federal agencies. > The initial roster of private sector partners includes Adobe, Amazon Web Services, AMD, Anduril, Apple, Box, C3.ai, Coinbase, Databricks, Dell Technologies, Docusign, Google Public Sector, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI,…

A lot of these places already have massive government contracts with their own management structures.

So the plan is to also make some of them federal employees, ostensibly helping to oversee those contracts? Seems like a conflict of interest...

Re: US Tech Force

#52

> No, Tech Force positions are not political appointments. Participants are hired as federal employees based on their technical qualifications and serve in non-partisan roles focused on technology implementation. Will you be forced to set a politically biased out-of-office message that blames the Other Side when you're inevitably furloughed during the next funding crisis?

They might as well be political appointments after Trump v Slaughter is decided since the unitary executive maximalists would swallow all for-cause job termination protections that have defined the professional civil service.

Re: US Tech Force

#53
post #29

> Tech Force will primarily recruit early-career technologists > Tech Force will include centralized organization and programming and serve as a recruiting platform post-employment. Be prepared to struggle at the end of your two year placement because you have no idea how this is going to look on your resume two years from now. Maybe it’ll have the gravitas of having worked at the former USDS. But maybe it’ll be the…

Employers would have to be pretty spiteful to look at it the way you purposed. I wouldn't want a spiteful employer. The flip side is that a lot of government jobs lead to pretty good private sector opportunities working with those same agencies. If you want to contact to DOE, knowing how it works in the inside and knowing people there definitely helps. A lot of military contractors are former military. Who better to…

> Employers would have to be pretty spiteful to look at it the way you purposed

I disagree. If a persons resume contains description of blatantly harmful work how else can I interpret it but negatively? At best you’d have to chalk it up to “just following orders” but I don’t want blind obedience in a prospective employee either.

The destruction caused by DOGE is evident to anyone with eyes, as is the agency’s complete lack of achievement. I would absolutely be asking questions about why someone remained there.

Re: US Tech Force

#54

> No, Tech Force positions are not political appointments. Participants are hired as federal employees based on their technical qualifications and serve in non-partisan roles focused on technology implementation. Will you be forced to set a politically biased out-of-office message that blames the Other Side when you're inevitably furloughed during the next funding crisis?

No one will force you do to such a thing, because no one who will not enthusiastically do this on their own accord will be hired.

lol. This is not even a parody.

Re: US Tech Force

#55
post #23

How is this different from 18F (a group within GSA which Elon killed), US Digital Service (which Elon kind of converted to DOGE) or Defense Digital Service (DDS)? Is the only difference that the current government can claim they started this (completely ignoring they dismantled the previous programs)?

More seriously, one big difference is that USDS recognized that design is as important as technology. This org only wants engineering-types.

> We're looking for expertise in software engineering, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data analytics, or technical project management. Strong problem-solving abilities and a passion for public service are essential.

Re: US Tech Force

#56

> Participants will work on high-impact technology initiatives including AI implementation, application development, data modernization, and digital service delivery across federal agencies. > The initial roster of private sector partners includes Adobe, Amazon Web Services, AMD, Anduril, Apple, Box, C3.ai, Coinbase, Databricks, Dell Technologies, Docusign, Google Public Sector, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI,…

Bullshit. There is no company in the US that refuses to hire defense contractor employees, ex military or anyone who has worked in defense earlier. Edit: this seems like the usds with private sector participation. I know “doge” is basically just usds.

There’s no company with a policy to refuse, but there are plenty of individual hiring managers and interviewers with personal opinions or bias.

Re: US Tech Force

#57
post #29

> Tech Force will primarily recruit early-career technologists > Tech Force will include centralized organization and programming and serve as a recruiting platform post-employment. Be prepared to struggle at the end of your two year placement because you have no idea how this is going to look on your resume two years from now. Maybe it’ll have the gravitas of having worked at the former USDS. But maybe it’ll be the…

Employers would have to be pretty spiteful to look at it the way you purposed. I wouldn't want a spiteful employer. The flip side is that a lot of government jobs lead to pretty good private sector opportunities working with those same agencies. If you want to contact to DOE, knowing how it works in the inside and knowing people there definitely helps. A lot of military contractors are former military. Who better to…

Employers would have to be pretty spiteful to look at it the way you purposed.

It's not always that black and white. In spite of appearances, many many companies make hiring decisions based on things other than what's in a resume.

For example, a company may have $mm contracts with another company whose owners/operators/shareholders/etc. favor one particular view, political party, or social construct. That company will most certainly look down upon the other company hiring people of a particular background.

Or the pressure could be internal. A couple of times in my life I've worked for companies where certain departments were unionized. Even if you weren't in one of those departments, if the company hired you and you had a particular background, the union would object.

The real world is very complex.

Re: US Tech Force

#58
>What is the expected compensation for participants? Compensation varies based on experience level and agency placement. Annual salaries are expected to be in the approximate range of $150,000 to $200,000. Benefits include health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, and eligibility for performance-based awards.

>Tech Force will primarily recruit early-career technologists

So "early-career" but they're going to get paid GS-14/15 pay[1] in DC? New grad engineers in DC are going to be GS-7/9 at best. This is either a blatant lie, or created by someone who has no idea of how federal pay works (or both).

As an aside, I was a fed for >10 years and left last year for industry but stay in touch with friends still working federal jobs. Before this administration recruiting was extremely difficult and candidate quality was low. I've heard that it's nearly impossible now and in the last 18 months they've only been able to hire a single person. Federal jobs used to be considered stable, with good benefits, but low pay. Now they're unstable, the current administration is actively working to make benefits worse, and the pay is still really low.

[1] https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries...

Re: US Tech Force

#59
post #58

>What is the expected compensation for participants? Compensation varies based on experience level and agency placement. Annual salaries are expected to be in the approximate range of $150,000 to $200,000. Benefits include health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, and eligibility for performance-based awards. >Tech Force will primarily recruit early-career technologists So "early-career" but they're going to…

I'd wager that the "approximate" in that sentence is going to be doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Re: US Tech Force

#60
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do those standards mandate a correctly rendered US flag?

New memo is one star, but compensate with 5 squares for what could be a simple rectangle. That logo's SVG is weird.

I didn't mean the logo (honestly didn't even notice). I was talking about the robot guy's t-shirt - it does have 13 stripes, but the number and layout of stars look rather play-it-by-ear.
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