

These 3 Federal Government Jobs Might Actually Just Change Everything - jasonshen
http://www.jasonshen.com/2013/these-3-federal-government-jobs-might-actually-just-change-everything/

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sarahallen
Here's my post about the same positions:
[http://www.ultrasaurus.com/sarahblog/2013/12/work-in-
governm...](http://www.ultrasaurus.com/sarahblog/2013/12/work-in-government-
save-the-world/)

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leokun
> These 3 Federal Government Jobs Might Actually Just Change Everything

That's the worst kind of link bait title. A type lambasted and ridiculed here,
xkcd and everywhere else. HN should have some kind of smart filter to just
auto flag these kinds of submissions.

Edit: And it's flagged off the home page. Good riddance. Maybe be a little bit
less silly with your headline next time jason.

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jasonshen
I appreciate your thoughts but I have to disagree with your concern -
headlines have evolved over the years because writers have figured out what is
more effective. Users have limited attention and especially with something as
important as these roles, it is my responsibility to make the article as
enticing as possible to read.

Headlines offer a promise to the reader and it is the writers job to then
deliver on that promise. I believe I do so in the post itself. If you
disagree, that's fine, but I don't consider the title link bait, because that
suggests that the actual content failed to deliver on the promise.

~~~
dragonwriter
> Headlines offer a promise to the reader and it is the writers job to then
> deliver on that promise. I believe I do so in the post itself.

You don't. You don't have anything in the post that really addresses how the
jobs, individually or collectively, might change _anything_ , much less
_everything_. Heck, you don't, in the body of the post, even discuss what it
is that the programs these positions involve leading _are_.

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pmorici
Seems like they didn't even bother to proof read the job listings. The job
listing says the positions "promotion potential" is for a GS-15 and lists the
salary range as 123k - 155k. But then down in the "Qualification Required"
section it talks about GS-14. The GS-14 salary range goes from 105k - 133k. So
either the repeated GS-14 use is a typo or they are listing the wrong
potential starting salary number.

You might be thinking hey, minor issue. It's not here is why. This is
emblematic of the kinds of things you can expect as a matter of routine if you
were to take this job. A million minor issues from typos and comical
misunderstandings in important communications to your email frequently
breaking for unexplained reasons to being forced to use shitty government
software to do tasks like filling in your time card that waste hours of your
life each month. Just because the word presidential is in the job title isn't
going to change the reality of how the government works.

~~~
jasonshen
I believe that is not a typo. What they are saying is that this job is a GS-15
job with a salary of 123k-155k, and that in order to be qualified to apply for
this job, you must demonstrate that you have at least one year of experience
working at a level equivalent to GS-14.

No bones about it, this job requires wading through A LOT of crap. But so does
being a successful startup founder, or senior executive at a big company. It
may be different kinds of crap, but no important job is every easy. I do
believe doing this job well could in fact change the reality (to some small
degree) of how government works.

The only chance we have of making the system better is to have capable, good
people trying to make it so.

~~~
pmorici
I understand that, there is a defiantly a typo in this listing though...

[https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/356185700](https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/356185700)

"The GS-14 salary range starts at $123,758.00 per year"

Either they meant to say GS-15 or the salary number there should be 105k.

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jliechti1
>> The way government jobs are evaluated require them to map the requirements
of the job against things that they can find on your resume. So while you
might be used to the one-page resume for industry, it is not unheard of to
have 15 page resumes in government.

Just curious - does "require" here really many they are legally required to
evaluate your resume in this way? Wow.

~~~
jasonshen
There used to be a different process called KSA (knowledge, skills and
abilities) that was even worse (from what I hear). I think this application
would approach hiring more progressively, but they still need to do things
like create written evaluations of candidates explaining why they wanted to
move forward (or reject) each candidate. A lot of laws were created to avoid
any chance of discrimination (or unfair preference), which leads to a much
longer and slower process.

This article might be of help, though I am not at all an expert in this area.
[http://www.fedsmith.com/2011/10/10/creating-federal-
resume-p...](http://www.fedsmith.com/2011/10/10/creating-federal-resume-
postksa-era/)

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jasonshen
Blah, HN-ed. Here's a cached version
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.jasonshen.com/2013/these-3-federal-
government-jobs-might-actually-just-change-everything/)

Edit - looks like it might be back? Leaving cached version just in case.

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coldcode
Nothing changes everything. Or maybe any title that indicates something will
change everything means it will change nothing.

~~~
sslayer
I disagree, Industrialization, Electricity and Computer Science are all
relatively newer concepts that really have changed everything in the last 200
years. Timescale changes everything!

