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Why would anyone capable work in the government if you can make many times the amount elsewhere? I think this is the economic curse.

by whazor 8y ago

tormeh 8y ago
You can do what Singapore does and just pay senior bureaucrats more than what the private sector can afford to pay them. Good public administration isn't cheap, and excellent public administration is expensive. The benefits are enormous, of course.
- pjlegato 8y ago
  This seems to work well for Sinagpore. Competent people actually want to work in government. There's another key element: government officials are also required to open their personal finances to public inspection. This goes a long way to rein in corruption and graft.
toomuchtodo 8y ago
Highly competent technology practitioners took paycuts to work at USDS and 18F to transform government IT delivery.
- chroma 8y ago
  If your system relies on people going against their incentives, it's going to produce substandard outcomes. While some tech workers did decide to take pay cuts to work at USDS & 18F, most didn't. I considered both, but then I realized that best case I'd make 1/2 as much as my current compensation. On top of that I'd be fixing or replacing legacy code, not developing skills that would be useful elsewhere. I have a sense of civic duty, but it doesn't go that far. I'm sure the same is true for many others. The net result is the same as if the government paid mechanics or doctors substandard wages: Some good talent would join out of civic duty, but the overall effect would be to lower the quality of workers relative to the private sector.
solatic 8y ago
Compensation isn't the sole motivator. Government work tends to be less stressful, more secure, and more fulfilling for a lot of people. Seems like there's a new article on HN every other day about work-life balance - you're not really going to find threats to work-life balance coming from up the hierarchy in government engineering work. Compensation does matter, but it's not the be-all-end-all.

Why would anyone capable work in the government if you can make many times the amount elsewhere? I think this is the economic curse.

by whazor 8y ago

Why would anyone capable work in the government if you can make many times the amount elsewhere? I think this is the economic curse.

tormeh 8y ago

You can do what Singapore does and just pay senior bureaucrats more than what the private sector can afford to pay them. Good public administration isn't cheap, and excellent public administration is expensive. The benefits are enormous, of course.

pjlegato 8y ago
This seems to work well for Sinagpore. Competent people actually want to work in government. There's another key element: government officials are also required to open their personal finances to public inspection. This goes a long way to rein in corruption and graft.

toomuchtodo 8y ago

Highly competent technology practitioners took paycuts to work at USDS and 18F to transform government IT delivery.

chroma 8y ago
If your system relies on people going against their incentives, it's going to produce substandard outcomes. While some tech workers did decide to take pay cuts to work at USDS & 18F, most didn't. I considered both, but then I realized that best case I'd make 1/2 as much as my current compensation. On top of that I'd be fixing or replacing legacy code, not developing skills that would be useful elsewhere. I have a sense of civic duty, but it doesn't go that far. I'm sure the same is true for many others. The net result is the same as if the government paid mechanics or doctors substandard wages: Some good talent would join out of civic duty, but the overall effect would be to lower the quality of workers relative to the private sector.

solatic 8y ago

Compensation isn't the sole motivator. Government work tends to be less stressful, more secure, and more fulfilling for a lot of people. Seems like there's a new article on HN every other day about work-life balance - you're not really going to find threats to work-life balance coming from up the hierarchy in government engineering work. Compensation does matter, but it's not the be-all-end-all.