Hacker News Reader

Comment by alephnerd | Hacker News Reader

> Interns and entry level executive branch employees design these programs

Not really.

GS-13 and above are fairly competent, but the issue is it's government and you will get some pushback from Political Appointees.

The long tail was probably added in order to prevent headlines of abuse like what happened with the PPP program.

The lossage would be minimal, but the headlines would be a massive headache, so they were most likely forced to add rigorous validation.

> who decides to prioritize this program in the first place? How does the WH administration decide to add a program to its agenda

Recommendations from advisors, staffers, career civil servants, and industry partners.

View on HN

I knew you were an insider before I clicked your bio, just based on your non-cynical nomenclature of "industry partners." But hey, at least you're a "recovering policy wonk." :)

Out of curiosity, how many "GS-13" employees actually write the technical documentation and legalese themselves, vs. asking their subordinates to produce the initial drafts and then fixing details but missing larger gaps?

I disagree based on my decade+ experience working with Federal employees. I would guess that 50% of GS-13 to GS-15 (heck even SES) are mostly incompetent, 40% get the basic minimum of their job complete, and the final 10% shoulder most of the work accomplished. I have come across many GS staff given busy work roles so they are "out of the way" of leadership's objectives. :edit: For folks downvoting me, this is just my personal opinion based on my experience working within IT and cybersecurity. My observations can easily be (and may actually be) untrue elsewhere (as noted by replies to my comment). Early in my career, I was a GS-13 myself.

Depends on the agency and role.

You're in cybersecurity/IT which is sadly a massive shitshow in most agencies outside of the DoD and DoE.

All I can say is the grass ain't greener in similarly sized private sector organizations.

Edit: I actually upvoted you. That said, Cyber/IT is treated differently and the GS scheme is different.

Relatively junior Economists, Accountants, and Statisticians won't be given a GS-13 position out the door, but it's more likely for Cyber/IT roles due to the salary constraints.

I shouldn't have used such broad strokes, you accurately assessed that my opinion is based on my experience with IT/cyber folks in the government.

All good! The Federal Government is a massive employer and your experiences are heavily sub-agency dependent. No two people will have a similar experience.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com