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>they cannot afford to pay people market rates This is not true! On average, the federal government is paying quite a bit of money for tech people. I'd serious
by dimmke 6y ago
>they cannot afford to pay people market rates
This is not true! On average, the federal government is paying quite a bit of money for tech people. I'd seriously estimate they're paying almost FAANG rates in a lot of cases all told.
The problem is that a lot of it gets siphoned off in the contracting process. The contracting process needs to be fixed. There's a ton of huge established players doing really bad work. IT specifically gets treated differently in government contracting, and is almost always procured through something called a GWAC which is basically a moat that it's hard for new companies to get into (the goal is to streamline procurement by having "vetted" companies in this pool already but it usually means it's very difficult for new players to get involved.)
That is changing, just very slowly. The agency that created this playbook, GSA, is helping facilitate that with things like introducing good vendors to other agencies and smaller more limited engagements.
- jolux 6y agoI'm aware of the problems with the contracting process. My experience with salary is at the state level where things are much more stark, but I also don't think that federal salaries are comparable with FAANG, particularly Google. Most at 18F are at GS-15, right?
- dimmke 6y agoFair point about state/local. My statement about FAANG was based on some napkin math I did with regard to published rates for certain labor categories by some big contracting companies on some vehicles they were a part of. But even doing a quick comparison, levels.fyi estimates about $160 - 180k cash compensation for new hires for FAANG. GS-15 Step 3 in DC is 150k. Plus excellent government benefits. It's spitting distance at least.
- jolux 6y agoPoint taken, but I think that's probably a best case scenario for government IT in general. I am lucky enough to work for a state-level 18F-alike that has the latitude to pay people market rates, but looking at what my coworkers outside of my direct org get paid I often feel incredibly guilty.
- minhazm 6y agoUSDS isn’t going to hire a new grad at GS-15. Also government benefits are not as good as FAANG benefits. Also GS-15 is the absolute max. 2 yrs at FAANG and your comp will be closed to 220-250k, which is already passed the absolute max you can get paid on the government pay scale.
- dimmke 6y agoI wasn’t really talking about direct government roles when I made that comment. I was more talking about what the government shells out to contractors for programming jobs which as many have pointed out is the vast majority of programmers that get hired to do work for the government. And admittedly, it is a little hyperbolic. I don’t have actual data to directly back it up beyond some research I did earlier this year. But FAANG really represents the most you could get paid as a software engineer and it’s pretty clear to me that these salaries are at least average/middle of the road. There isn’t some widespread low pay issue for software engineers doing this kind of work.
- gbh444g 6y agoFANG pays 450-550 to someone with 10 yoe. GS-15, on the other hand, requires a PhD and even if it's reachable within 10 years, pays only 180.
- acdha 6y agoA GS-15 doesn’t require a PhD but it definitely requires considerable experience.
- Schiendelman 6y agoSalaries are publicly posted for many USDS jobs. They aren’t particularly competitive as far as I’ve seen. But - only 20-30% low. It might be worth it for the good one could do.