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4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

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Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#561

Post by ineedasername »

TechDebtDevin wrote: post #216
Robotbeat wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The satellite industry in the US is larger than ever, FWIW. Between Starlink, OneWeb, Kuiper, plus a gazillion startups like Astranis, K2 Space, etc, not to mention defense satellites, there has never been a time when more satellites have been launched by the U.S. I think your friend will be fine. The real issue is the capability loss for NASA.

I think that's what this is, the 4k people in NASA probably never would have quit (great benefits or whatever), maybe the strategist at the top (whether they are right or not) think its better for this talent to be concentrated at private firms? And tbf, the private sector does move fast :/

There is no strategist at the top thinking about where this talent is best positioned to do good work.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#562

Post by aaron695 »

fennecbutt wrote: post #388
jzb wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is worth making the point: a lot of people simply don’t see it (yet?) for what it is and still support the people doing it.

Well there's also just the "own the libs durrrrr!" crowd. Politics has become a sports game. I lack confidence in a good chunk of the population to vote in their best interests, perhaps democracy isn't the right way. Or voting on something should require an exam on the subject.

[dead]

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#563

Post by godelski »

ElevenLathe wrote: post #560
godelski wrote: post #550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm failing to see what you're arguing against from my comment. What did you think I was arguing?

jacobolus wrote: > The cuts to NASA as well as NOAA, NIH, USGS, USDA, FWS, DOE, etc. are not really saving that much money, but are destroying literally trillions of dollars of future economic value You, in reply, wrote: > The real issue is essentially: which would you rather have, $1 now or $10 tomorrow?[1] I'm saying you're wrong. There is not a choice to be made. We want the $10 tomorrow. No rational person can di…

That wasn't my argument? I think you should look at my last paragraph. It starts with "I'm pointing this out because".

  > We want the $10 tomorrow.
Previously I didn't state my position. You *assumed* my position. So allow me to tell you what it is: I agree, $10 tomorrow is better

  > No rational person can disagree with this
You really should read [1]

Actually, you really should read my whole comment and be careful to not read things my comment doesn't say.

To circle back,

  >> miscommunication due to different assumptions about what we want
A corollary to this is "miscommunication [frequently] happens when we make inaccurate assumptions about the position of others". Let's not go putting words in other people's mouths.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#564

Post by throwawayq3423 »

aerostable_slug wrote: post #359
debatem1 wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Democrats stuffing government bureaucracies with do-nothing jobs for their buddies Ignoring the partisanship this argument doesn't make sense on its face: government jobs pay extremely poorly. You might say "well what if you hold more than one of them?", but you can't do that: a federal employee can be employed in two different roles, but their pay is capped at 40 hours a week across the federal government. Anyone…

What are you on about? Government work is a wonderful career opportunity for the non-HN crowd. These are often people of at best average intelligence and near zero ambition who want a cushy career that you can't be fired from unless you punch a supervisor (and even then it's tough). There are wonderful people in government, I've worked with them. But there are a ton of people along for the ride and it's absolutely in…

> for the non-HN crowd.

> But there are a ton of people along for the ride

For someone who claims to be not in the startup hustle world of Hacker News, you also don't understand that people "along for a stable ride" is how 98% of the world views employment.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#565

Post by [deleted] »

rockskon wrote: post #73

NASA has been downsizing a lot. Friend of mine is a contractor for NASA who has been trained as a parts engineer for sourcing and testing electronic components that go into satellites and spacecrafts will be out of a job in a few months as her entire branch is eliminating all contractor positions. Now she has a specialized skillset that isn't very readily transferable to other local companies and industries. Sucks. C…

[deleted]

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#566

Post by throwawayq3423 »

aerostable_slug wrote: post #522
const_cast wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No It's not. The pay, job per job, is significantly lower across the public sector. You take a massive pay-cut. I don't know what lied to you and told you it's "cushy", but it's definitely not. Also, you can absolutely be fired for performance. In fact, across the public sector probationary periods are typically longer than in the private sector. Meaning, it's actually easier for you to get fired. These are the types…

I've worked in government. Have you?

Interesting past tense. Why did you leave and does it involve getting paid more?

I've worked in government and it's just like the private sector. You have people that are there check in, make money, and go home, and you have people that care about their work. And I don't think there are any significant ratio differences between public and private in regards to that.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#567

Post by tonyhart7 »

righthand wrote: post #357
tonyhart7 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NASA should launch internet sattellite like starlink so they can profit off something but its too late I think the thinking that government body is not for profit is misleading since you want a bit of independence in terms on financial budget see what happen when government change stance, NASA hiring and firing depends on political mood at the point having an profitable business wouldn't make NASA cut the job if gove…

The US government isn’t a business. In fact the current attack on it by Magats is because businesses want part of their pie to turn into a business, not because it will help or empower the people or because the programs cost too much. They are doing it because they want to charge you more. They want to charge you for your comfortable American excess that you already paid for with tax dollars. They want to double dip,…

Yeah and that's why US gov is controlled by business and corporat

china literally doing an opposite, they force buy company shares that turns that into "half" state company

I know china is bad and I agree with you but controlling business and billionaire is one they good at

if I get to choose where my money goes, I rather let the money goes to government budget than billionaire pocket

keeping taxes low because government not heavily dependant on TAX while keeping goverment body effecient and profitable

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#568

Post by VerminOctopus1 »

giantg2 wrote: post #243
jebarker wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Their science missions are inspiring, but not as inspiring as they ought to be Are they 1% as inspiring as what the DoD does with their budget? I don't mean to be snarky, but level of inspiration is pretty subjective and difficult to put a price tag on. Honestly, I feel like the NASA budget needs to be considered in context relative to the DoD budget and then these cuts look much less convincing as being necessary.

"Are they 1% as inspiring as what the DoD does with their budget?" It would be closer to 2%, but we could measure it by engagement. Ask people what their last positive interaction was with NASA vs the military. The military does all sorts of outreach with things like the Blue Angels, stadium flyovers, competitions at fairs, etc. Ask them what NASA has done over the past year vs what the military has done over the pas…

I’m sorry but this is asinine. All of the “positive interactions” you listed are literally propaganda events to increase the palatability of the US military and encourage enrolment.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#569

Post by giantg2 »

VerminOctopus1 wrote: post #568
giantg2 wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Are they 1% as inspiring as what the DoD does with their budget?" It would be closer to 2%, but we could measure it by engagement. Ask people what their last positive interaction was with NASA vs the military. The military does all sorts of outreach with things like the Blue Angels, stadium flyovers, competitions at fairs, etc. Ask them what NASA has done over the past year vs what the military has done over the pas…

I’m sorry but this is asinine. All of the “positive interactions” you listed are literally propaganda events to increase the palatability of the US military and encourage enrolment.

Yes, and propaganda to put the public on it's side would benefit NASA in it's budget battles.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#570

Post by ToucanLoucan »

elcritch wrote: post #526
ToucanLoucan wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NOAA, NASA, NIH, FWS, and DOE all regularly push how bad the situation is around global climate change. That's likely why they're getting targeted. The GOP's position on climate change is sticking their fingers in their ears and screaming LALALALALA and having credible government agencies pointing out the ongoing effects is detrimental to this strategy. Meanwhile the USDA, FWS, and DOE do those pesky regulatory thing…

> Meanwhile the USDA, FWS, and DOE do those pesky regulatory things True and that’s awesome. However to put up some of a counter those agencies also over-regulate. Bureaucracy tends to over-expand. Musks example of SpaceX having to calculate the likelihood of a rocket hitting a shark in the pacific. Musk is certainly exaggerating a bit, but is speaking to a real issue for many businesses struggling to keep up with ab…

Given Space Xs issues in the subsequent years with complying with environmental regulations, it doesn’t seem that ridiculous to me. It’s not as though the shark question was simply posed in a vacuum: it was part of a broader inquiry into potential impacts of launching rockets into space. And Space X wasn’t singled out. Blue Origin had to do the same paperwork, yet bezos didn’t feel the need to whine about it.
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