4 ms·

As a remote worker who may not exactly be the best and brightest but for whom the pay for the digital service is close enough to right to be appealing and who'd

As a remote worker who may not exactly be the best and brightest but for whom the pay for the digital service is close enough to right to be appealing and who'd probably be a real asset to them, aside from getting hired apparently being a months-long process I stopped even looking when it became clear most of the positions are short "term of service" things. If I'm going gov it's for the retirement and bennies. The long haul. A "term of service" that takes a bunch of unusual effort to get and pays just OK holds zero appeal.

marmaduke 7y ago
Where did you look for jobs?
- karatestomp 7y ago
  The USA Jobs site for them, IIRC. Someone posted it in an HN Who's Hiring once so I checked it out, got pretty excited, got a little bummed about the application process and how long it takes but the directions were very clear and I've got a guy who's basically a government bureaucracy expert to read over my stuff for me so I was resigned to dealing with that crap.. but then I realized that it's all (current postings, upcoming postings, the ones the poster had claimed were revolving evergreen posts even if they weren't marked as open) defined-term rather than regular, actual employee, and then got very unexcited. Not worth the effort if there's a hard expiration date on it, or even the specter of such, when the retirement, healthcare, and stability parts are much of the appeal. Plus what if I finally get to work on something I'm actually kinda proud of, then have to leave? No. Not putting in unusual effort for that.
mook 7y ago
That sounds like a USDS† position. My understanding is that they do things that way due to unstable budgets, because their pay is out of whack compared to the rest of the government (because pay at an equivalent position outside of the government is much higher). † https://www.usds.gov/faq https://www.usds.gov/faq
inferiorhuman 7y ago
USDS and 18F make their rounds on HN periodically. The mandatory relocation without relocation stipend, required drug testing, and security clearance all make recruitment difficult. Edit: Oh yeah, the short terms hurt as well.
- Quarrelsome 7y ago
  Not really learning from the private sector are they?
  - inferiorhuman 7y ago
    Local governments aren't that much better, sadly. https://www.jobapscloud.com/SF/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1=PEX&R2=1043&R3=102665 https://www.jobapscloud.com/SF/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1=PEX&R2=... Senior ops gig, exempt from civil service rules which means essentially a three-year at-will gig. Below average pay, below average benefits.

marmaduke 7y ago

Where did you look for jobs?

karatestomp 7y ago
The USA Jobs site for them, IIRC. Someone posted it in an HN Who's Hiring once so I checked it out, got pretty excited, got a little bummed about the application process and how long it takes but the directions were very clear and I've got a guy who's basically a government bureaucracy expert to read over my stuff for me so I was resigned to dealing with that crap.. but then I realized that it's all (current postings, upcoming postings, the ones the poster had claimed were revolving evergreen posts even if they weren't marked as open) defined-term rather than regular, actual employee, and then got very unexcited. Not worth the effort if there's a hard expiration date on it, or even the specter of such, when the retirement, healthcare, and stability parts are much of the appeal. Plus what if I finally get to work on something I'm actually kinda proud of, then have to leave? No. Not putting in unusual effort for that.

mook 7y ago

That sounds like a USDS† position. My understanding is that they do things that way due to unstable budgets, because their pay is out of whack compared to the rest of the government (because pay at an equivalent position outside of the government is much higher). † https://www.usds.gov/faq https://www.usds.gov/faq

inferiorhuman 7y ago

USDS and 18F make their rounds on HN periodically. The mandatory relocation without relocation stipend, required drug testing, and security clearance all make recruitment difficult. Edit: Oh yeah, the short terms hurt as well.

Quarrelsome 7y ago
Not really learning from the private sector are they?
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  Local governments aren't that much better, sadly. https://www.jobapscloud.com/SF/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1=PEX&R2=1043&R3=102665 https://www.jobapscloud.com/SF/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1=PEX&R2=... Senior ops gig, exempt from civil service rules which means essentially a three-year at-will gig. Below average pay, below average benefits.