[runako]

> hands-on building things

My piping hot take is that you want an expert policy builder in a job building policy. So you want someone with a lot of hands-on experience building policy. A senior SWE would have a steep ramp to get qualified for her job, because they do not have hands-on experience building policy.

For example: do they have contacts in the relevant organizations? Do they even know what the relevant organizations are? Do relevant Congresspeople know them and listen when they have something to say? None of the relevant skillset involves being hands-on with e.g. Python or vector databases.