4 ms·

Government IT projects just work better in the hands of internal teams than external consultancies. It's quite well-known that there's a whole industry of consu

Government IT projects just work better in the hands of internal teams than external consultancies. It's quite well-known that there's a whole industry of consultancies who make money taking on government contracts with low bids and intentionally expanding the budget by dragging their heels so they can extract the maximum amount of taxpayer money possible. Then the project usually fails and the process repeats.

mst 5y ago
Even if an external contractor is honest, bidding in the first place requires navigating such a complex process that essentially you're choosing from a set of companies who have designed themselves around being able to handle the bidding process. This does not have as much overlap with designing a company around being to handle delivery as one might like.
xyzzy123 5y ago
I think there's also a dynamic related to pay that's not often discussed. My observation is that in the UK, developer pay in the public vs private sector is not so wildly different than it is in the US. The public sector can reliably get quite good staff.
- beaconstudios 5y ago
  that's also true, in a former life I was a contractor and while I didn't work in the public sector at any point by pure circumstance, a few friends did and they pulled a similar rate to when they were in the private sector.
- tikkabhuna 5y ago
  I don't know any developers in the public sector, but friends in various civil service roles love the other perks. Decent pension. Loads of flexidays. One friend could almost work a 4 day week all year. They all seem quite fulfilled, too.
- another-dave 5y ago
  Really disagree IME — there are great people at GDS, but they're doing it as a vocational thing and could make much more money in private sector. Generally in the UK you have to go freelancing to earn the top of the market, but even permanent roles in private sector have much better pay for less responsibility. E.g. I saw some GDS "Head of" roles advertised with a salary band ~£60-80k. AFAIK, they've also dialled back on public sector & they now offer defined contributions nearer to general private sector.
  - xyzzy123 5y ago
    Yep, the divide is still there, I meant it's not quite so extreme. There are good people everywhere, but not having so much FAANG 4x comp vs .gov, maybe the alternative is contracting for 2x perm rate - it does make a difference.

mst 5y ago

Even if an external contractor is honest, bidding in the first place requires navigating such a complex process that essentially you're choosing from a set of companies who have designed themselves around being able to handle the bidding process. This does not have as much overlap with designing a company around being to handle delivery as one might like.

xyzzy123 5y ago

I think there's also a dynamic related to pay that's not often discussed. My observation is that in the UK, developer pay in the public vs private sector is not so wildly different than it is in the US. The public sector can reliably get quite good staff.

beaconstudios 5y ago
that's also true, in a former life I was a contractor and while I didn't work in the public sector at any point by pure circumstance, a few friends did and they pulled a similar rate to when they were in the private sector.
tikkabhuna 5y ago
I don't know any developers in the public sector, but friends in various civil service roles love the other perks. Decent pension. Loads of flexidays. One friend could almost work a 4 day week all year. They all seem quite fulfilled, too.
another-dave 5y ago
Really disagree IME — there are great people at GDS, but they're doing it as a vocational thing and could make much more money in private sector. Generally in the UK you have to go freelancing to earn the top of the market, but even permanent roles in private sector have much better pay for less responsibility. E.g. I saw some GDS "Head of" roles advertised with a salary band ~£60-80k. AFAIK, they've also dialled back on public sector & they now offer defined contributions nearer to general private sector.
- xyzzy123 5y ago
  Yep, the divide is still there, I meant it's not quite so extreme. There are good people everywhere, but not having so much FAANG 4x comp vs .gov, maybe the alternative is contracting for 2x perm rate - it does make a difference.