@everyafter The government’s goals for poaching tech talent are clear, but in my opinion, if individuals want to help, they can do far better by hunting for contracts that work to improve these issues. That is how the vast majority of real technology work is done these days in the IC, and it’s been that way since the Clinton administration took a hacksaw to the IC’s civil service budget after the Cold War. And as I mentioned, at top tier companies working these contracts, there’s at least some hope that you can learn and be an effective technology professional (even one devoted to the IC). This doesn’t exist in government. There is little reason to go government if one can serve more effectively, building better technologies to hunt foreign spies, as a contractor.
Furthermore, virtually no one ambitious is in a position to unwind the horrific clearance timelines and gaslighting. The contracts running those systems are held hostage by legacy primes and the hazing practices common with polygraphs and clearances are endemic to the culture. Speaking out leads to personal repercussions, so the best one can do is to call Congress.
On “market pay”: I take any verbiage on “competitive pay” coming out of the gov with a massive grain of salt. That 12% STEM incentive is the IC’s attempt at “market competitive pay”. In reality, they’re just throwing the word “competitive” around like the corporate kool-aid at any company that underpays its workers because the numbers are clear: top tier talent can make 2x to 4x in the private sector. It’s virtually the same tactic any bottom tier company’s HR uses to retain its employees, claiming that either “things will get better” or that “their pay is already ‘competitive’”.
Even ignoring money, private sector workers will grow their skills and responsibilities twice or three times as quickly each year. Because that’s where they can make material progression from individual contributor to team lead or principal expert. In gov tech work, mechanisms to progress in gov are narrow for team leads, are almost nonexistent for principal experts, and are incredibly slow regardless.