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Comment by ihsw | Hacker News Reader

Contrary to the article's inflammatory title, software engineers haven't quit their jobs at the USG en masse.

As for the "with the government" vs the "for the government" rebuttals: surveillance and research contractors haven't stopped working with the USG either.

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I don't think there will be droves of people leaving because of recent scandals. But it sure will make it harder to answer a smart college grad who asks "Why should I work for the NSA?" when he/she has options at private tech companies.

i agree with this statement. i don't think that anyone was saying they would quit the government en masse. i actually got the impression that they were talking about freelancers and such, but i could be wrong.

Except... They aren't only recruiting "smart college grads" they're recruiting smart college Freshmen etc. I know several people who did internships with the NSA/DoD starting their freshmen year. And I can tell you at that point there is still the shiny, "I work for the NSA! This is so cool!" feeling.

If their friends, condemned their actions i.e. working for a bunch of incompetent, paranoid spooks, their job outlook would change as well.

How would their friends know you you are working for the NSA? Shurly you sign the official secrets act (the US version of it) at the interview stage and have an agreed cover story for your referees.

I believe they let you tell people who ask since being evasive would raise more suspicion.

Thats why you have a cover story allegedly :-)

NSA has both overt and covert employees.

I'm sure it will be a consideration, but I wonder how MUCH of a consideration it really will end up being. The loudest voices against the government in the current debate seem unlikely to be people who would work for the government under most circumstances anyway. At the end of the day, the NSA will always be a secret government intelligence gathering organization, 3 descriptors that seem at odds with a big part of the hacker community to begin with.

The answer is easy.

I like money, I like job security, I like playing for a winner, I like being on the bleeding edge.

Were I crypto guy, I would snatch up a vacated-on-principle spot at the NSA in a heartbeat.

I guess at least you know your price.

They just write stories like this so it will make it to HN and drives traffic. Nothing has changed. There are just more people running on that gerbil wheel on HN.

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