Hacker News Reader

Comment by craigyk | Hacker News Reader

The thing is... you'd likely see inefficiency and wastefulness in most private sector jobs as well. Almost guaranteed.

There are some types of services, like crucial infrastructure, where failure is not an option, hence government, hence sacrificing efficiency in favor of dependability.

View on HN

Except that I also work in the private sector as well. I have both private and public clients. It's MUCH MUCH worse in government. Also if you're seen as wasteful at a large company you're more likely to be shown the door.

The larger the organization the more room there is for waste within its ranks. No organizations are larger than the government.

Speaking as a government employee, not a contractor, we are actually more efficient than my previous private sector jobs. But then again, we have a "build it don't buy it" culture here with a lot of love for open source throughout our services and really only use consultants on ultra specific jobs, due to head count caps from our legislature. Sure there's some union cruft here and there but I've seen similar dead weight in the private sector.

Perhaps you should consider consulting for less well-funded segments of the Government? The constraints make for ingenious solutions.

your department sounds pretty awesome. I've never seen anything like that. Unfortunately I don't have the option of choosing our clients. I am but a humble developer for an 8a contractor.

If you don't mind me asking. What state/department do you work for?

Minnesota education. There is obviously years of cruft to deal with, but there is a desire here to constantly do things better. Honestly, the tech attracted me to the job. They're using some cool stuff. I was pretty surprised when I interviewed. Went from seeing the interview as practice to really wanting the job.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com