I like that the Digital Corps exists in theory. I applied many moons ago, I believe during the Obama administration. Service to our country is something I feel is important so I applied to at least see if there was a fit.

When I got to the phone screen, I made a point to ask if recreational cannabis would disqualify you from joining and they confirmed that yes, even if it was recreationally used, a positive cannabis result on a drug test would disqualify you.

Major bummer, but unsurprising. The entire reason I asked was due to how many posts on HN I’ve seen about government agencies having a hard time hiring tech folks for this reason. I have what I believe to be a decently desirable skillset and a lot of tangible experience working in startups AND enterprise companies, and if I had to guess, would have brought some good value to the team.

I hope (but doubt) these policies have relaxed.