5 ms·

I went to a government website the other day. 5 pages of forms I filled out several times. Each time on the final page, "system error, cannot proceed." I calle

I went to a government website the other day. 5 pages of forms I filled out several times. Each time on the final page, "system error, cannot proceed." I called the agency, they said, "You should print out the PDF, fill that out and bring it to our office." Can you believe that?? There aren't enough programmers to make the .gov stuff work right because FAANG is buying them all. So, I'm not sure you are right on that.

bovermyer 7y ago
You should have a look at the work that the USDS is doing. You should also look at volunteering with Code for America.
Kalium 7y ago
> Can you believe that?? There aren't enough programmers to make the .gov stuff work right because FAANG is buying them all. So, I'm not sure you are right on that. There are enough. There certainly are in the US and likely so other places. It's that government often pays peanuts compared to private sector and adds poor management and poor advancement prospects on top. If people aren't willing to work for you because your working conditions suck, it might be worth considering better ones.
- blackflame7000 7y ago
  Being a contractor is where it's at, it's just hard to win the contracts sometimes because you gotta know people. Once you do, it's not unusual to see a $3 million budget to build a basic website.
- sli 7y ago
  The government might also have a lot of trouble finding programmers that have never done any illegal drugs, which probably doesn't help. Although that might only really be something the three letter agencies care about, I'm not sure.
mrec 7y ago
Is this in the US? As I said, I was talking about the UK.
cobookman 7y ago
It’s due to the government not being able to compete on salary due to federal salary schedule limitations. The joke is they can easily pay a contractor 150$/hour though. But can’t pay an employee hourly wage of 100$/hour
- monknomo 7y ago
  I believe employee wage ceiling is something more like $75/hr, and that would be for a job description like "you run the department of commerce"
pascalxus 7y ago
Your assumption that this is happening because those engineers are less skilled is completely wrong. I've worked at both private and govt. the problem in Govt is that resources just go towards the wrong projects. and things that could be fixed never do get fixed due to bureaucracy and regulations. engineers working for gov sometimes are forced to use the worst tools imaginable: often due to regulations (the tools/software used needs to be licensed or some other bs regulations).
- anon1m0us 7y ago
  Believe me when I say there is a lot of money to be made making it easier for people to package information to give to the government. Yes, the government should spend more money on IT. I agree with you. This is just a huge side conversation. Also, there is a TON of great educational content on youtube produced by governments. Google won't show me those videos on web pages at the government website, but they'll show me the youtube video with ads on it.
logfromblammo 7y ago
Government offices don't just lose on salary, but also on working conditions. Secondhand anecdotes recount fistfights in the office and the unfireable-until-the-election official viewing porn during working hours and continually infecting their desktop and the intranet with malware.
- lowdose 7y ago
  This sounds outrageous. Would be awesome if that video is going to end up on yt.
  - logfromblammo 7y ago
    Unfortunately, that was from before smartphone ubiquity. Possibly the story is also from before YouTube, but the recounting of it was not.
autoexec 7y ago
I've also seen a number of .gov sites that require googleapis or use google and other trackers. .gov is very much involved with monetization and tracking

bovermyer 7y ago

You should have a look at the work that the USDS is doing. You should also look at volunteering with Code for America.

Kalium 7y ago

> Can you believe that?? There aren't enough programmers to make the .gov stuff work right because FAANG is buying them all. So, I'm not sure you are right on that. There are enough. There certainly are in the US and likely so other places. It's that government often pays peanuts compared to private sector and adds poor management and poor advancement prospects on top. If people aren't willing to work for you because your working conditions suck, it might be worth considering better ones.

blackflame7000 7y ago
Being a contractor is where it's at, it's just hard to win the contracts sometimes because you gotta know people. Once you do, it's not unusual to see a $3 million budget to build a basic website.
sli 7y ago
The government might also have a lot of trouble finding programmers that have never done any illegal drugs, which probably doesn't help. Although that might only really be something the three letter agencies care about, I'm not sure.

mrec 7y ago

Is this in the US? As I said, I was talking about the UK.

cobookman 7y ago

It’s due to the government not being able to compete on salary due to federal salary schedule limitations. The joke is they can easily pay a contractor 150$/hour though. But can’t pay an employee hourly wage of 100$/hour

monknomo 7y ago
I believe employee wage ceiling is something more like $75/hr, and that would be for a job description like "you run the department of commerce"

pascalxus 7y ago

Your assumption that this is happening because those engineers are less skilled is completely wrong. I've worked at both private and govt. the problem in Govt is that resources just go towards the wrong projects. and things that could be fixed never do get fixed due to bureaucracy and regulations. engineers working for gov sometimes are forced to use the worst tools imaginable: often due to regulations (the tools/software used needs to be licensed or some other bs regulations).

anon1m0us 7y ago
Believe me when I say there is a lot of money to be made making it easier for people to package information to give to the government. Yes, the government should spend more money on IT. I agree with you. This is just a huge side conversation. Also, there is a TON of great educational content on youtube produced by governments. Google won't show me those videos on web pages at the government website, but they'll show me the youtube video with ads on it.

logfromblammo 7y ago

Government offices don't just lose on salary, but also on working conditions. Secondhand anecdotes recount fistfights in the office and the unfireable-until-the-election official viewing porn during working hours and continually infecting their desktop and the intranet with malware.

lowdose 7y ago
This sounds outrageous. Would be awesome if that video is going to end up on yt.
- logfromblammo 7y ago
  Unfortunately, that was from before smartphone ubiquity. Possibly the story is also from before YouTube, but the recounting of it was not.

autoexec 7y ago

I've also seen a number of .gov sites that require googleapis or use google and other trackers. .gov is very much involved with monetization and tracking