US Tech Force

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US Tech Force

purple_ferret

Comments (268)

jotux
>What is the expected compensation for participants? Compensation varies based on experience level and agency placement. Annual salaries are expected to be in the approximate range of $150,000 to $200,000. Benefits include health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, and eligibility for performance-based awards.>Tech Force will primarily recruit early-career technologistsSo "early-career" but they're going to get paid GS-14/15 pay[1] in DC? New grad engineers in DC are going to be GS-7/9 at best. This is either a blatant lie, or created by someone who has no idea of how federal pay works (or both).As an aside, I was a fed for >10 years and left last year for industry but stay in touch with friends still working federal jobs. Before this administration recruiting was extremely difficult and candidate quality was low. I've heard that it's nearly impossible now and in the last 18 months they've only been able to hire a single person. Federal jobs used to be considered stable, with good benefits, but low pay. Now they're unstable, the current administration is actively working to make benefits worse, and the pay is still really low.[1] https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries...
baconner
That's a nice idea, so nice in fact that it already existed as 18F until they closed it under the guise of efficiency earlier this year and are now starting over.
ulrashida
Figures this comes from the National Design Studio (https://ndstudio.gov/) which ironically also ignores the government's own advice on web standards and correct use of identifying headers.One can assume the US Tech Force will perceive itself as also unfettered by those silly rules and good practices.
pavel_lishin
> Are there any other benefits?> Additional benefits include professional development opportunities, networking with government and industry leaders, and a pathway to continued public service or private sector careers.Given the lack of mention of any benefits prior to this, it sure sounds like "you'll get lots of exposure!"edit: not sure if they just added it, or if I just missed it, but there is an FAQ entry on compensation:> Compensation varies based on experience level and agency placement. Annual salaries are expected to be in the approximate range of $150,000 to $200,000. Benefits include health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, and eligibility for performance-based awards.
justin66
What companies are participating in Tech Force?The initial roster of private sector partners includes Adobe, Amazon Web Services, AMD, Anduril, Apple, Box, C3.ai, Coinbase, Databricks, Dell Technologies, Docusign, Google Public Sector, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, Oracle, Palantir, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow, Snowflake, Robinhood, Uber, Workday, xAI, and Zoom. This list will expand over time.Are there any companies on that list who haven't made gross public displays of servitude towards the current administration?
mNovak
I know it's annoying now to nitpick over what's AI generated, but I'm noticing their robot mascot has two different incorrect American flags on its sweater..
alexpotato
Is this just US Digital Service V2?https://www.usds.gov/
lubujackson
> Tech Force will primarily recruit early-career technologistsBaking in the ageism right from the start. Few want to work for this government, but at least they can keep those unsavory 30+ year olds out!
soared
This makes feel a bit queasy for some reason https://americabydesign.gov/
jihadjihad
> Backed by the White HouseSomehow it hits differently than the similar phrase, "backed by the full faith and credit of the US Govt."
afavour
> Tech Force will primarily recruit early-career technologists> Tech Force will include centralized organization and programming and serve as a recruiting platform post-employment.Be prepared to struggle at the end of your two year placement because you have no idea how this is going to look on your resume two years from now. Maybe it’ll have the gravitas of having worked at the former USDS. But maybe it’ll be the black mark of having worked at DOGE. The latter feels much more likely than the former.You will have no control over this outcome. If I had to bet I’d say they will take advantage of your junior status to get you to do the kind of wildly irresponsible hacking, slashing and AI injecting that a more senior engineer would object to and you’re going to face some tough questions in subsequent job interviews.
nrmitchi
> Participants are hired as federal employees based on their technical qualifications and serve in non-partisan roles focused on technology implementation."non-partisan" lol okay sure
johnwatson11218
If you want to know what you are up against I highly recommend - https://www.amazon.com/Recoding-America-Government-Failing-D...This book discusses the IT systems at the IRS and VA and shows the kind of push back you can expect from entrenched players.
workfromspace
I was just browsing this website and found that the jobs are actually listed at https://www.usajobs.gov I think.The latter website, job search, job details and help center look actually nice. Unfortunately I'm living in EU and not an American citizen, but I wish EU did something similar.(There is https://eures.europa.eu but just like almost any other EU website, the design is very confusing and cluttered)
aprct
It’s amusing that this initiative from “America by Design” uses the Neue Montreal typeface.
dragonwriter
I don't know, with almost thirty private contracting firms already identified (and a note that that list will grow) and a target of ~1,000 federal employees, seems like all the actual “Tech Force” public sector staff are going to be in contract management, oversight, and related roles.
nobodyandproud
How is this different from the formerly-great USDS?
jcoder
There are two attempts to render an American flag on that page and they’re both wrong
blackjack_
Did I miss congress passing a new set of laws creating the US Tech Force? I'm confused, as this seems like a direct and open violation of the Appointments Clause.
gorgoiler
Top level hiring is a close knit network. The FAQ I wanted to see answered: who’s onboard already, and how do I know them / how might I have heard of them / what have they done before?I’m going to make a guess that the answers are missing for a reason.
alsetmusic
Space Force, Tech Force, Ass Force. What a stupid timeline. I've been promoting government work (state, not federal) to my friends ever since I landed a sweet gig. It's awesome. Guess what job I won't seek.
netfortius
This will work perfectly with the approach used by candidates: https://www.interviewquery.com/p/tech-workers-gaming-ai-hiri...
nozzlegear
> No, Tech Force positions are not political appointments. Participants are hired as federal employees based on their technical qualifications and serve in non-partisan roles focused on technology implementation.Will you be forced to set a politically biased out-of-office message that blames the Other Side when you're inevitably furloughed during the next funding crisis?
fivre
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46277687 mentioned Recoding America as "what you're up against", omitting the important "people had learned what they were up against and were well into the process of building collaborative effort between civil servantsthe book _is_ good, but it's rather disheartening that all the people discussed (and many more that couldn't fit into the book) on the federal side were summarily fired to clear space for sycophants and toadies round one (the DOGE broccoli hair kids siphoning off sensitive data and doing some casual corruption) are putting out this as sycophants and toadies round two: _lasting_ corruption in partnership with the least scrupulous bits of private industrythe people in the book are https://18f.org/ and spent the last decade building useful relationships, familiarity with public sector quirks, and standard software toolkit items for government tech. they got tossed for the crime of working with the Biden admin and wanting to work towards building tech entirely for public good under the auspices of the law.whatever branding and whatnot this comes wrapped in i don't trust this admin nor whatever bits of the private sector are looking to work with it in the slightest to not stand up something that works in the public interest. we're gonna get new and exciting forms of graft and revolving door exploitation of sensitive data
beej71
With my opinion of the current administration, I doubt I'd qualify.
anon
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mads_quist
Is this backed by YC?
verst
How is this different from 18F (a group within GSA which Elon killed), US Digital Service (which Elon kind of converted to DOGE) or Defense Digital Service (DDS)?Is the only difference that the current government can claim they started this (completely ignoring they dismantled the previous programs)?
Havoc
Very curious whether things are actually changing.US administration seems to be making lots of moves and aggressively changing stance...but is this actually translating to real change?
zkmon
Why only 2 years? Why can't it be a permanent employment?
PostOnce
If you'll cut one corner to save money, you'll cut another.https://techforce.gov/footer-robot.pngThis is an example of a cut corner. AI slop with irregular pixels for the face, thumb melted into finger, ipad not subject to gravity.I wonder what the next cut corner will be?
cdrnsf
Building tech for a bunch of kleptocrats and fascists. If I saw this on someone's resumé I'd immediately refuse or dissolve any involvement with them.
mxfh
The flash of unstyled text when it goes from serif Times New Roman to grotesk FF Neue Montreal is so jarring.Elite of the elite needs no sans-serif fallback font.Just when I thought this was on brand to the new "anti-woke" font style guide.
b0sk
This is not a political appointment, but if you have mentioned something even mildly negative about a certain person in the past, not only we'll walk you out, we'll probably arrest you!
exasperaited
==> We are going to build infrastructure with teams of people who won't stay longer than two years. Nobody has thought about this long enough to realise this might be a problem.
adamwong246
> Backed by the White HouseYeah, that's going to be a hard pass from me
2OEH8eoCRo0
Sounds like the same thing as US Digital Service.
westmeal
Awful
1986
So they gutted and destroyed USDS in order to... Create it again?
xaxaxb
Doge 2.0
hntway2594
Funnily enough I had recently been thinking something like this would be a good idea. Like if the govt. created a department with the soul goal of developing open tech for the public good. I guess you could say they kind of already do this with research grants but something with more clear focus could be a good thing.It's too bad this was created by an absolute dumpster fire admin that will 100% use this for malicious ends.
embedding-shape
> Participants will work on high-impact technology initiatives including AI implementation, application development, data modernization, and digital service delivery across federal agencies.> The initial roster of private sector partners includes Adobe, Amazon Web Services, AMD, Anduril, Apple, Box, C3.ai, Coinbase, Databricks, Dell Technologies, Docusign, Google Public Sector, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, Oracle, Palantir, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow, Snowflake, Robinhood, Uber, Workday, xAI, and Zoom. This list will expand over time.Ever wanted to get involved in government-sanctioned espionage technology? This seems like an recruitment effort for that. Applicants beware. Remember that in just 3 years this will stop helping you to get hired, and will probably look like a blemish on your CV when you eventually need to get a new job.
Animats
Like 18F, but pro-Trump?
jamesgill
What an AI slopfest of a website.Also: the "United States DOGE Service"? Really?
jeffbee
You can go ahead and add this to the list of job experiences that will earn you a "Definitely Not" rating from me in the hiring committee, along with doge, palantir, coinbase, etc.
frepubtards
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smallnix
> at the Department of Defense*Department of War