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by ceeplusplus 1401 days ago
No, the current situation if you get scammed via a credit card or PayPal is that you file a chargeback, and PP/card company reverses the transaction, because withdrawing money takes time. And if the transaction is not reversible, then PP/CC company take the hit on their own bottom line.

Is the federal government going to take on that risk? What makes you think they can afford to hire programmers who are skilled enough to build out a sophisticated fraud detection system? The highest GS pay scale is lower than what a new grad makes at Stripe/PayPal.
1 comments
astrange 1401 days ago
> The highest GS pay scale is lower than what a new grad makes at Stripe/PayPal.

It's better if you compare benefits and cost of living. Or if Stripe fires you because your manager didn't like that you tweeted a joke about Elon Musk once (apparently this happens).

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ceeplusplus 1400 days ago
The only better benefit is a guaranteed pension after you work 20+ years in government. But since pensions nowadays are chronically underfunded and you make literally 3x (!) more at the equivalent level at Stripe/Paypal/etc. a 401k is a more than good enough substitute for the pension.

Health insurance is definitely better at the tech company. Cost of living varies - Washington DC/Northern VA is not cheap, and Washington state (where Stripe is based) has no state income tax.

I think very few people would take the government job, particularly the type of people okay with taking big risks that you need to build out a greenfield fraud detection and payment system.

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