Very insightful, thanks. I was familiar with the problems you covered regarding RFPs and vendor contracts, but had not considered the issues regarding access to information for an individual seeking a programmer role.
I’ve worked for campaigns, as a contractor for a small firm exclusively catering to a single agency, for a larger firm that did incidental government work, and I’ve got several friends who are high up in tech working directly for agencies.
My impression is that government tech = All the problems of Enterprise + Academia, all the recognition and support of a non profit, the culture of Uber, and the ethics of Facebook.
It’s just a maelstrom of most developers idea of hell.
And if you were born in hell and they hand you a pitchfork, hey, why not have a go?
But don’t go down there thinking you’re gonna install air conditioning and escalators.
My impression is that government tech = All the problems of Enterprise + Academia, all the recognition and support of a non profit, the culture of Uber, and the ethics of Facebook.
It’s just a maelstrom of most developers idea of hell.
And if you were born in hell and they hand you a pitchfork, hey, why not have a go?
But don’t go down there thinking you’re gonna install air conditioning and escalators.