4 ms·

If it's such a vital piece of Dutch infrastructure, why is it in private hands at all?

by kleiba2 5mo ago

danslo 5mo ago
DigiD itself is government-owned, but its infrastructure is managed by Solvinity (a private company). Not really different from the US gov running half its stack on AWS.
- kleiba2 5mo ago
  Okay, maybe let's not take the US as a point of comparison.
  - danslo 5mo ago
    Fine. Not really different from most governments relying on private suppliers to manage their infrastructure.
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
conceptme 5mo ago
because privatisation
Nevermark 5mo ago
Apologies in advance for wasting anyone's time with a light hearted tangent. But as I scrolled past your comment I read: > If it's such a vital piece of infrastructure, why is it in Dutch hands at all? It was the funniest thing I have misread in a while.
Cthulhu_ 5mo ago
Because too few IT capable people are willing to work under the government's pay scales; in most cases going private / corporate earns more. So most Dutch IT projects end up with private companies, which also means that, in the case of DigID and the secure / official messaging platform, the hosting party can charge exorbitant rates. Did you know it costs 25 cents to send a message via the Berichtenbox? So when the government does its annual "it's time to fill in your taxes" message, they have to pay millions. Assuming they don't get a bulk deal, anyway.
- Muromec 5mo ago
  For the record, Logius (the government owned enterprise dealing with DigID) vacancy for Java developer: https://www.werkenvoornederland.nl/vacatures/lead-java-developer-LOG-2026-1600 https://www.werkenvoornederland.nl/vacatures/lead-java-devel... . 92k EUR per year for whatever they measure as 40 hours a week (I bet they close the shop at 4 pm). >Did you know it costs 25 cents to send a message via the Berichtenbox? In a country with paid toilets what do you expect lol
  - arlcode 5mo ago
    That doesn't sound bad at all. At least for me as a German that would be a salary that you wouldn't get at every random company. Maybe the Netherlands are different (country can vary a lot with what is included in a salary) ?
    - Muromec 5mo ago
      It's a good salary if you don't work for booking, amazon or whatever americans of the day. I got lowballed a few days ago with 85 in a startup. On the other hand this wont buy you a house in Amsterdam on one income.
  - rahkiin 5mo ago
    Thats the top level though, attainable with 10-15 years of ‘lead java dev’ experience. That is different from 10-15 years of java experience
- mechazawa 5mo ago
  There are plenty of people who are willing to work for the government and the pay is pretty decent. But their stack is often Microsoft based and their IT is located in Apeldoorn. Who in their right mind would want to travel all the way to Apeldoorn. A good example of internal development in the government is the police. They have internal development teams.
  - edwinjm 5mo ago
znnajdla 5mo ago
Because very powerful private VCs and investment bankers want to ensure that governments stay impotent when compared to their capital. Welcome to the Western world.
deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]

If it's such a vital piece of Dutch infrastructure, why is it in private hands at all?

by kleiba2 5mo ago

If it's such a vital piece of Dutch infrastructure, why is it in private hands at all?

DigiD itself is government-owned, but its infrastructure is managed by Solvinity (a private company). Not really different from the US gov running half its stack on AWS.

kleiba2 5mo ago
Okay, maybe let's not take the US as a point of comparison.
- danslo 5mo ago
  Fine. Not really different from most governments relying on private suppliers to manage their infrastructure.
deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]

conceptme 5mo ago

because privatisation

Nevermark 5mo ago

Apologies in advance for wasting anyone's time with a light hearted tangent. But as I scrolled past your comment I read: > If it's such a vital piece of infrastructure, why is it in Dutch hands at all? It was the funniest thing I have misread in a while.

Cthulhu_ 5mo ago

Because too few IT capable people are willing to work under the government's pay scales; in most cases going private / corporate earns more. So most Dutch IT projects end up with private companies, which also means that, in the case of DigID and the secure / official messaging platform, the hosting party can charge exorbitant rates. Did you know it costs 25 cents to send a message via the Berichtenbox? So when the government does its annual "it's time to fill in your taxes" message, they have to pay millions. Assuming they don't get a bulk deal, anyway.

Muromec 5mo ago
For the record, Logius (the government owned enterprise dealing with DigID) vacancy for Java developer: https://www.werkenvoornederland.nl/vacatures/lead-java-developer-LOG-2026-1600 https://www.werkenvoornederland.nl/vacatures/lead-java-devel... . 92k EUR per year for whatever they measure as 40 hours a week (I bet they close the shop at 4 pm). >Did you know it costs 25 cents to send a message via the Berichtenbox? In a country with paid toilets what do you expect lol
- arlcode 5mo ago
  That doesn't sound bad at all. At least for me as a German that would be a salary that you wouldn't get at every random company. Maybe the Netherlands are different (country can vary a lot with what is included in a salary) ?
  - Muromec 5mo ago
    It's a good salary if you don't work for booking, amazon or whatever americans of the day. I got lowballed a few days ago with 85 in a startup. On the other hand this wont buy you a house in Amsterdam on one income.
- rahkiin 5mo ago
  Thats the top level though, attainable with 10-15 years of ‘lead java dev’ experience. That is different from 10-15 years of java experience
mechazawa 5mo ago
There are plenty of people who are willing to work for the government and the pay is pretty decent. But their stack is often Microsoft based and their IT is located in Apeldoorn. Who in their right mind would want to travel all the way to Apeldoorn. A good example of internal development in the government is the police. They have internal development teams.
- edwinjm 5mo ago

znnajdla 5mo ago

Because very powerful private VCs and investment bankers want to ensure that governments stay impotent when compared to their capital. Welcome to the Western world.

deleted 5mo ago

[deleted]