anecdotal, but I worked a government contract job (with a union involved, if that matters). In that particular setting, it felt more like a "welfare with dignit

anecdotal, but I worked a government contract job (with a union involved, if that matters). In that particular setting, it felt more like a "welfare with dignity" program: the work being performed only required a couple hours of each person's work day leaving excessive time to sit around. If you were a union employee and decided to work more than was necessary, well, that was very frowned upon by your peers. Didn't enjoy it so much, but it paid well and I did it while I was in college. Once I graduated, I moved off to find employment in development. I could've tried to wait for an opening for development at that place, but it had a very interesting dynamic: if you were a union employee, fellow union employees were nice to you (for the most part). If you crossed over to a management position, which application development was... it becomes a very toxic environment. Shame, really, as the people were good people outside of that weird us vs. them mentality. I have looked at the various Code for America endeavors and you're right: it does appear that people who are part of it feel very motivated by mission, so things like that are probably a very strong net good.