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United States Digital Service | Senior Software Engineers, Senior Site Reliability Engineers, Senior Designers, and more! | Washington, DC | ONSITE https://www.

United States Digital Service | Senior Software Engineers, Senior Site Reliability Engineers, Senior Designers, and more! | Washington, DC | ONSITE https://www.usds.gov/ https://www.usds.gov/ The best of technology. The best of government. And we want you. We're looking for the most tenacious designers, software engineers, product managers, and more, who are committed to untangling, rewiring and redesigning critical government services. You'll join a team of the most talented technologists from across the private sector and government. No government resume required! We work on some of the biggest issues affecting the American people there are, immigration, veterans service, students, health care, and more. We're especially looking for talented senior engineers to join us to help shift move government tech in the right direction. See one of our Reports to Congress for examples of what you could be working on: https://www.usds.gov/report-to-congress/2017/07/ https://www.usds.gov/report-to-congress/2017/07/ Apply here: https://www.usds.gov/join https://www.usds.gov/join

Matt_Cutts 8y ago
We've got a lot of impactful projects to work on. It turns out that government systems/technology need a lot of help, and USDS is well-positioned to assist.
- mrgreenfield 8y ago
  It's too bad that there aren't intern positions. Lots of DC students would be interested I'm sure.
  - Matt_Cutts 8y ago
    You might want to check out https://www.fedscoop.com/civic-digital-fellows-demo-day-2018/ https://www.fedscoop.com/civic-digital-fellows-demo-day-2018... if you're looking for that!
    - atlasunshrugged 8y ago
      Any nontechnical roles ever come up? I'm at the e-Residency program in Estonia leading a team but definitely want to come back to the States and serve at some point
      - Matt_Cutts 8y ago
        Most of our work involves engineers, designers, and product managers. Under the product category, there's also the notion of a "bureaucracy hacker" who helps get things done and launched. Those folks might not always be super technical, but are good at pushing to make forward progress.
- wjossey 8y ago
  I’ve said it to you before, and I’ll say it again, thank you for your service Matt. Listened to you on the TWiT network and have followed your career ever since. I’m on vacation this week, and while my wife reads, I spelunk data in the US Census and American Community Survey. I’ve been looking this week at polling proximity for voters based on demographics and RUCA coding, to see how fair access is to voting throughout the country. I’ve had to primarily use third party data sources because the government datasets are poor or non existent (thanks to Census Reporter, Google Civic API, and Google Distance Matrix API). I hope other engineers like yourself take the challenge and seek to improve our technology. We need it, and it’s important! Thanks again Matt.
  - Matt_Cutts 8y ago
    It sounds like your current gig would keep you 100% busy, but if timing or life changes might allow for you to come do a tour, it sounds you've been bit by the same civic bug as us!
    - wjossey 8y ago
      Definitely. Maybe need to get Google to buy my startup and I’ll go spend a couple years in service :) If I’m ever in DC I’ll reach out. Would love to take a tour and learn more. Best of luck to you and the team, Matt. Email is in my profile if I can ever be of assistance.
- sergiotapia 8y ago
  It's always been my daydream to work with a company like this and serve my country. At my current job I joined because it directly helps people as well by helping them shed off debt they cannot handle. We all do what we can to help others. Kudos to you!
  - Matt_Cutts 8y ago
    That's important! We have done some work on that around student loans: https://medium.com/the-u-s-digital-service/what-if-you-could-find-the-right-student-loan-repayment-option-in-5-steps-or-less-a9240f18437e https://medium.com/the-u-s-digital-service/what-if-you-could... If you're interested, consider applying!
- mattferderer 8y ago
  I applaud you for what you're doing. I also know you've heard this 100 times Matt, but maybe it'll be the 101st time that makes the decisions makers allow this. Allow remote. This country spans a large area & a lot of it is full of people who would love to help their country do better, but few want to move to DC. The US "Digital" Service should be a shining example to others of how to work remotely.
  - Matt_Cutts 8y ago
    I hear you. Right now a lot of our meetings involve sitting with or across from decision makers, and being in DC is really critical for that. For what it's worth, some of our individual agency engagements (e.g. VA or DoD) might allow you to come to DC for a short while like three months and then work remotely after that. But most of our work is in DC, at least for now.
    - mattferderer 8y ago
      If that was something you promoted for the summer months when school is out & one could bring their family with, I think you would have a lot of takers. Best wishes!
      - jasonbarrah 8y ago
        Just keep senior people there as code reviewers and 'account managers' who would sit down with stakeholders from DC. Then open source some of the other projects or at least add approved citizens that could work remotely on low-security projects. (Like some of the commenters above).
- tvanantwerp 8y ago
  Is USDS doing any work with the IRS? I'm currently working at a tax policy think tank, and from what I can see I think the IRS could definitely use help on a number of fronts. Probably the biggest thing: they've got to finish rewriting their tax filing system to not be in assembly--don't know if they've made good progress on getting it into Java. Their SOI data could also use a better system for hosting/distribution along the lines of data.gov.
  - giggles_giggles 8y ago
    Just FYI the IRS is hiring directly. I keep seeing them advertising open software engineering positions in Austin, TX, though I'm uncertain about other locations.
  - Matt_Cutts 8y ago
    We have done some work with the IRS in the past, such as https://www.usds.gov/report-to-congress/2016/irs-secure-access/ https://www.usds.gov/report-to-congress/2016/irs-secure-acce... We don't currently have an engagement at the IRS/Treasury, but if we get more people to sign up, that would increase the odds. :)
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - sbr464 8y ago
    Please don’t help the irs.
    - 666lumberjack 8y ago
      Are you Libertarian or do you have a non-partisan objection to the IRS specifically?
      - pc86 8y ago
        I'm struggling to think of any legitimate objection to the IRS that could be non-partisan.
- taveras 8y ago
  I am impressed with the work your team is doing!
varunkrau 8y ago
Has the current administration changed the work/mission/culture at all?
- Matt_Cutts 8y ago
  We work on non-partisan projects, and the way we prioritize projects hasn't changed. So we're still able to get important things done for Veterans, small businesses, doctors/patients, students, immigrants, soldiers, etc. This is a recent overview of the sort of projects that we're working on: https://www.usds.gov/report-to-congress/2017/fall/ https://www.usds.gov/report-to-congress/2017/fall/ It's all great stuff that you'd feel proud to tell your family and friends about.
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    > We work on non-partisan projects As the existence and prioritization of executive branch projects is an outcome of partisan politics, that's only even possibly true in the sense that some government projects, even in this administration, aren't particularly subject to partisan controversy. But while it would be possibly true in that sense, it doesn't seem to be actually true in that sense, as a review of the highlight projects at https://www.usds.gov/work https://www.usds.gov/work shows that many serve goals that have been the subject of intense partisan controversy over the last couple years.
torgian 8y ago
This is interesting. I’m a veteran and know first hand how terrible the system can be. I’ve taight myself JavaScript and have recently learned Django with my current position. I don’t have any plans to leave the company now, but working on systems that can help out fellow veterans more easily is tempting. Maybe in a year or two I’ll revisit this :)
- Matt_Cutts 8y ago
  You might consider applying. We're well-positioned to improve things at Veterans Affairs. I've had a Veteran say "I had trouble deciding about my GI Bill benefits. I'd like to build a tool to make it easier for other Veterans." And then they did! Check out this GI Bill comparison tool that Marc (the Veteran I mentioned) built: https://www.vets.gov/gi-bill-comparison-tool/ https://www.vets.gov/gi-bill-comparison-tool/ . Seeing vets help out brothers and sisters who have served is really inspiring.

Matt_Cutts 8y ago

We've got a lot of impactful projects to work on. It turns out that government systems/technology need a lot of help, and USDS is well-positioned to assist.

mrgreenfield 8y ago
It's too bad that there aren't intern positions. Lots of DC students would be interested I'm sure.
- Matt_Cutts 8y ago
  You might want to check out https://www.fedscoop.com/civic-digital-fellows-demo-day-2018/ https://www.fedscoop.com/civic-digital-fellows-demo-day-2018... if you're looking for that!
  - atlasunshrugged 8y ago
    Any nontechnical roles ever come up? I'm at the e-Residency program in Estonia leading a team but definitely want to come back to the States and serve at some point
    - Matt_Cutts 8y ago
      Most of our work involves engineers, designers, and product managers. Under the product category, there's also the notion of a "bureaucracy hacker" who helps get things done and launched. Those folks might not always be super technical, but are good at pushing to make forward progress.
wjossey 8y ago
I’ve said it to you before, and I’ll say it again, thank you for your service Matt. Listened to you on the TWiT network and have followed your career ever since. I’m on vacation this week, and while my wife reads, I spelunk data in the US Census and American Community Survey. I’ve been looking this week at polling proximity for voters based on demographics and RUCA coding, to see how fair access is to voting throughout the country. I’ve had to primarily use third party data sources because the government datasets are poor or non existent (thanks to Census Reporter, Google Civic API, and Google Distance Matrix API). I hope other engineers like yourself take the challenge and seek to improve our technology. We need it, and it’s important! Thanks again Matt.
- Matt_Cutts 8y ago
  It sounds like your current gig would keep you 100% busy, but if timing or life changes might allow for you to come do a tour, it sounds you've been bit by the same civic bug as us!
  - wjossey 8y ago
    Definitely. Maybe need to get Google to buy my startup and I’ll go spend a couple years in service :) If I’m ever in DC I’ll reach out. Would love to take a tour and learn more. Best of luck to you and the team, Matt. Email is in my profile if I can ever be of assistance.
sergiotapia 8y ago
It's always been my daydream to work with a company like this and serve my country. At my current job I joined because it directly helps people as well by helping them shed off debt they cannot handle. We all do what we can to help others. Kudos to you!
- Matt_Cutts 8y ago
  That's important! We have done some work on that around student loans: https://medium.com/the-u-s-digital-service/what-if-you-could-find-the-right-student-loan-repayment-option-in-5-steps-or-less-a9240f18437e https://medium.com/the-u-s-digital-service/what-if-you-could... If you're interested, consider applying!
mattferderer 8y ago
I applaud you for what you're doing. I also know you've heard this 100 times Matt, but maybe it'll be the 101st time that makes the decisions makers allow this. Allow remote. This country spans a large area & a lot of it is full of people who would love to help their country do better, but few want to move to DC. The US "Digital" Service should be a shining example to others of how to work remotely.
- Matt_Cutts 8y ago
  I hear you. Right now a lot of our meetings involve sitting with or across from decision makers, and being in DC is really critical for that. For what it's worth, some of our individual agency engagements (e.g. VA or DoD) might allow you to come to DC for a short while like three months and then work remotely after that. But most of our work is in DC, at least for now.
  - mattferderer 8y ago
    If that was something you promoted for the summer months when school is out & one could bring their family with, I think you would have a lot of takers. Best wishes!
    - jasonbarrah 8y ago
      Just keep senior people there as code reviewers and 'account managers' who would sit down with stakeholders from DC. Then open source some of the other projects or at least add approved citizens that could work remotely on low-security projects. (Like some of the commenters above).
tvanantwerp 8y ago
Is USDS doing any work with the IRS? I'm currently working at a tax policy think tank, and from what I can see I think the IRS could definitely use help on a number of fronts. Probably the biggest thing: they've got to finish rewriting their tax filing system to not be in assembly--don't know if they've made good progress on getting it into Java. Their SOI data could also use a better system for hosting/distribution along the lines of data.gov.
- giggles_giggles 8y ago
  Just FYI the IRS is hiring directly. I keep seeing them advertising open software engineering positions in Austin, TX, though I'm uncertain about other locations.
- Matt_Cutts 8y ago
  We have done some work with the IRS in the past, such as https://www.usds.gov/report-to-congress/2016/irs-secure-access/ https://www.usds.gov/report-to-congress/2016/irs-secure-acce... We don't currently have an engagement at the IRS/Treasury, but if we get more people to sign up, that would increase the odds. :)
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- sbr464 8y ago
  Please don’t help the irs.
  - 666lumberjack 8y ago
    Are you Libertarian or do you have a non-partisan objection to the IRS specifically?
    - pc86 8y ago
      I'm struggling to think of any legitimate objection to the IRS that could be non-partisan.
taveras 8y ago
I am impressed with the work your team is doing!

varunkrau 8y ago

Has the current administration changed the work/mission/culture at all?

Matt_Cutts 8y ago
We work on non-partisan projects, and the way we prioritize projects hasn't changed. So we're still able to get important things done for Veterans, small businesses, doctors/patients, students, immigrants, soldiers, etc. This is a recent overview of the sort of projects that we're working on: https://www.usds.gov/report-to-congress/2017/fall/ https://www.usds.gov/report-to-congress/2017/fall/ It's all great stuff that you'd feel proud to tell your family and friends about.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > We work on non-partisan projects As the existence and prioritization of executive branch projects is an outcome of partisan politics, that's only even possibly true in the sense that some government projects, even in this administration, aren't particularly subject to partisan controversy. But while it would be possibly true in that sense, it doesn't seem to be actually true in that sense, as a review of the highlight projects at https://www.usds.gov/work https://www.usds.gov/work shows that many serve goals that have been the subject of intense partisan controversy over the last couple years.

torgian 8y ago

This is interesting. I’m a veteran and know first hand how terrible the system can be. I’ve taight myself JavaScript and have recently learned Django with my current position. I don’t have any plans to leave the company now, but working on systems that can help out fellow veterans more easily is tempting. Maybe in a year or two I’ll revisit this :)

Matt_Cutts 8y ago
You might consider applying. We're well-positioned to improve things at Veterans Affairs. I've had a Veteran say "I had trouble deciding about my GI Bill benefits. I'd like to build a tool to make it easier for other Veterans." And then they did! Check out this GI Bill comparison tool that Marc (the Veteran I mentioned) built: https://www.vets.gov/gi-bill-comparison-tool/ https://www.vets.gov/gi-bill-comparison-tool/ . Seeing vets help out brothers and sisters who have served is really inspiring.