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IMO this is going to be the biggest problem to result from bloated SV salaries. Government departments have been experiencing a brain drain ever since the 80s,

IMO this is going to be the biggest problem to result from bloated SV salaries. Government departments have been experiencing a brain drain ever since the 80s, and that has only accelerated. We saw so much science and tech progress during the world wars and the cold war, because the best engineering jobs were working for gov contractors. Now, the best paid jobs are working for CRUD app widget factories that serve ads. The government needs to seriously step up its efforts to recruit exceptional talent, pay exceptional salaries, and be ruthless about cutting the fat (especially people who sit in easy jobs and contribute little). If not, it will only be a couple more decades before the government is completely unable to carry out many of its core functions such as law enforcement effectively.

dogman144 4y ago
Yes, agreed. Govt tech jobs I got into late stage interviews via a special talent initiative: - GS 7/9, would not budge, even with my existing pay stubs that I provided. - FBI specifically was the offer to move to Huntsville AL, while I lived in a coastal tech center. They built a new facility there for logical govt reasons, illogical for tech recruiting though. - An askance look/nasty attitude from the initiative when I was laid it out - I make $120k in my first Eng job, can you get anywhere close to that/not $60k/yr for a job in DC? If not I have to drop this scholarship/w-e they called it. I did, and got a job in private sector a month later at $150k and remote. They’re killing their talent base. Totally absurd. And I’m a candidate that would take a pay cut for a compelling govt job.