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Comment by Matt_Cutts | Hacker News Reader

Just to give some examples of the sort of work we're doing recently, we've been assisting the CDC with user research to improve their pages about COVID-19, we've worked with the SBA on their disaster loan assistance program, and we've built tools to provide more granular data to the coronavirus task force, not to mention the USDS folks working at specific agencies like Veterans Affairs to help ramp up capacity.

There's a lot of government systems that are facing high levels of load/stress right now, and we need the US government to work well right now. If you're an engineer/SRE or designer or product manager, please consider applying.

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I'm not currently looking, but just generally curious. How does working for USDS compare to working for Google? Even though it's the tech side of government, I have to imagine the cultures are completely different.

I’m also very curious about this. I’ve heard great things but not many details.

I interviewed there a couple years back. They had a pretty "startup" vibe, pay will be nothing close to google and COL in DC is very high.

I'm not personally familiar with Google's culture, but I came to USDS from AWS, and you're right that government work culture is pretty different from what you would see in the private sector.

One of USDS's core values is "Go where the work is," and we embed people with expertise in agencies to work on those agencies' priorities. Frequently, that means joining existing projects and working within the agency's culture (while also pushing that culture to be more flexible when necessary). USDS engagements tend to have a lot of support from agency leadership, and USDSers tend to learn ways around agency practices that get in the way, but we're very much joining and working within an existing, government work culture in each engagement rather than importing our own.

I haven't worked for any FANNG company, but have worked as a designer/developer for various govt. agencies. I can only imagine working for a FANNG company as possibly high pressure with a younger demographic. Working in Govt. you will work with people who are family focused, not trying to climb a ladder at all/any cost and the work is an 8 hour day. That has been my experience and I enjoy it!

Is remote work never coming back? I'd love to work at USDS, but I can't relocate to DC.

USDS's sister organization, 18F, is remote-first: https://18f.gsa.gov/

Why are there two such organizations? I mean, I know the federal government never stops at one bureaucracy when they can create multiple, but what are the effective differences in focus?

https://ben.balter.com/2015/04/22/the-difference-between-18f...

"Unlike 18F, which is approached by agencies asking for help, USDS has a shortlist of administration priorities that it actively pursues."

It's more accurate (IMO) to say the two have really different operating models. 18F is funded via cost recovery - agencies have to pay per project via an official agreement between agencies for the work (which can make it harder to do a project). USDS is funded via congressional appropriation, so doesn't need the same types of agreements.

What are the contracting opportunities? My company is DC based and have been doing similar scalability work for high traffic state and local websites in the past two weeks and we have been quite busy (as state and local sites could also use help with scalability).

We're on SAM.gov, if that matters. I can imagine it's all hands on deck everywhere.

Either way, good luck! I've always admired what your group (and DDS) does. I almost joined DDS a couple of years ago.

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