I don’t agree with you that it is safe to say if people could make 2-3x more money they would take the opportunity. It is equivalent to saying people who become

I don’t agree with you that it is safe to say if people could make 2-3x more money they would take the opportunity. It is equivalent to saying people who become teachers, who make far less than most professions of similar educational requirements, would jump at an opportunity to make 2-3x the pay or are somehow incapable of performing comparable functions. It’s just not true. I should probably clarify that there are some federal agencies that hire engineers as federal employees. For example, NSA, NASA, JPL, etc. To your point, they do have better success when it comes to engineering. However, they are also agencies that have a primary mission/function which requires it. For other agencies, it’s not all that easy for them to justify career engineering employees when the roles are tertiary functions. It’s not to say they don’t have them, but it is to say that they have far less of that expertise. That is why entities such as 18F and USDS exist though, to help fill that role. While it seems like you are not keen on giving it a try, I highly encourage you to give government work a shot even if only on a temporary basis with somewhere like USDS or 18F. Only way to help make positive changes to the way government does business is through people with the drive and talent to do so. There is plenty of opportunity to influence those types of changes, even at lower ends of the employment hierarchy. Appreciate the conversation and you offering your perspective!