[billburcham]

I am intrigued by 18F itself (the organization). Employees are on the "GS" scale (GS-14 thru GS-16). From the "Joining 18F" site's "Government pay grades explained" https://pages.18f.gov/joining-18f/pay-grades/

"… you cannot work at 18F on your position description for more than four years … We believe that in this industry most people aren't going to stick around for four years and beyond. They will join 18F, do their years of service in the federal government, and then return to the private (or public) sector. Due to the high-pressure nature of our work, it makes sense that people will move on after a couple of years. That helps 18F stay fresh and strong."

What the frack?!? Isn't the whole point of working for the Federal Government to have a job for life? 18F is actually worse than (non-startup) private sector jobs in that your contract says you cannot stay in the job longer than 2 (or 4) years. Fascinating.

[dragonwriter]

> What the frack?!? Isn't the whole point of working for the Federal Government to have a job for life?

No, though certainly the opportunity for a long-career with a stable employer is part of the attraction for some people of some federal positions.

OTOH, even term-limited positions like those at 18F don't really conflict with this, they just mean you need to find a different federal position before the term ends, leveraging your 18F experience.

> 18F is actually worse than (non-startup) private sector jobs in that your contract says you cannot stay in the job longer than 2 (or 4) years.

Limited-term-contract, non-startup, private sector jobs where you need to line up a new gig before the contract expires to keep working are not exactly uncommon, so I'm not sure how you characterize 18F as worse than non-startup private sector jobs based on a feature it shares with many non-startup, private sector jobs.

[billburcham]

> I'm not sure how you characterize 18F as worse than non-startup private sector jobs

Just seems like there is a mismatch between 18F's (high) cool factor and the compensation structure. These pay rates do not strike me as "contracting" or "consulting" rates. They strike me as more in line with "full time employee" pay rates at ordinary private-sector (non-startup) companies. But the job term is capped like a contract job. I don't see the financial upside to match their statement that https://pages.18f.gov/joining-18f/pay-grades/:

"Due to the high-pressure nature of our work, it makes sense that people will move on after a couple of years."

Sounds all startupy without the startup upside.

[wslack]

> But the job term is capped like a contract job.

I work at 18F, but am speaking for myself here. Pay rates and length of service are both tied to existing rules for federal employment. The advantage of being part of the government (and thereby following these rules) is in the possible impact of our work, like working with the FEC to build a new website with intermediate releases: https://beta.fec.gov/