Department of Government Efficiency, My Job Story

Summary

In this engaging video, Engineer Man delves into his time working for a federal position at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City, Florida. Through his humorous recounting, he highlights the inefficiencies and absurdities within the Department of Government Efficiency, an initiative founded by Elon Musk to combat fraud, waste, and abuse in the US government. The video serves as a cautionary tale against working in the public sector for developers and underscores the dire need for governmental reform. Engineer Man shares his bewildering experiences with outdated technologies, a bizarre interview process, and the peculiar "Peer Rewards Program" that epitomizes governmental waste.

Highlights

• Engineer Man warns developers against public sector jobs, emphasizing private sector growth. 🚀
• A surreal interview with only three basic questions led to landing a complex government job. 😳
• Outdated technology and lack of source control hindered progress and efficiency. 🖥️
• The quirky 'Peer Rewards Program' is a prime example of wasteful spending. 🎁
• A Thanksgiving data center meltdown epitomized the chaos due to aged infrastructure. 🔥

Key Takeaways

• The Department of Government Efficiency, formed by Elon Musk, aims to curb waste in the US government. 🤖
• Engineer Man shares his eyebrow-raising experiences working at the Naval Surface Warfare Center. 🏛️
• From a baffling job interview to outdated infrastructure, the tale showcases governmental inefficiencies. 😅
• The frustrating 'Peer Rewards Program' highlights the mismanagement of taxpayer dollars. 💸
• The story advocates for much-needed reform in government operations and spending. 🔧

Overview

Dive into a firsthand account by Engineer Man, unpacking his puzzling and amusing journey within the US government's Naval Surface Warfare Center. He humorously illuminates the striking inefficiencies and bureaucratic absurdities faced during his tenure, aiming to foster a discussion on government reform.

Through bewildering anecdotes, including a simplistic three-question job interview and exposure to outdated systems, Engineer Man paints a vivid picture of departmental disarray. His story focuses on the 'Peer Rewards Program,' which starkly highlights illogical and unnecessary governmental expenditures.

Ultimately, the tale is a light-hearted yet sobering reminder of the existing need for efficiency in government operations. Whether you're a developer contemplating a public sector job or a bystander intrigued by governmental mechanics, this video encourages rethinking bureaucratic norms.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction to Doge The chapter introduces the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), founded by Elon Musk, aimed at eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse within the US government to save taxpayers money. The author mentions their personal experience with a federal government position 13 years ago, setting the stage for further discussion. The chapter emphasizes that personal political views on Doge are irrelevant to the subsequent content.
• 01:00 - 02:30: Personal Background and Job Search The chapter titled 'Personal Background and Job Search' opens with the narrator's intent to share a story that reflects on government efficiency, particularly relating to their employment history. They hint at sharing true and honest details that might evoke feelings of frustration, especially among American readers. The narrator also mentions having two additional goals for sharing this story, one of which seems to be a warning or lesson for others.
• 02:30 - 05:00: The Interview Process This chapter discusses the interview process for a developer position within the public sector, specifically at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City, Florida. The author shares personal experiences and insights, touching on perceptions about working in government roles versus the private sector. There is an emphasis on the differences in work environments and the potential impacts of these roles on a developer's career choices.
• 05:00 - 08:00: First Day and Office Environment The chapter discusses the author's transition from being a United States Air Force veteran and a contract instructor to taking on a development job after leaving the Air Force. The author describes this job as an opportunity to re-enter the professional world, as most of their previous development experience was limited to side projects or work done during their service. The author reaches out to a defense contractor for this position, though they choose not to disclose the company's name.
• 08:00 - 11:00: Lack of Proper Standards and Tools The chapter "Lack of Proper Standards and Tools" begins with a job seeker finding relevant open positions for developers and a webmaster. The position for a webmaster was closer to the job seeker's home, prompting them to apply. The applicant received a response and was invited for an interview. They set up the interview with a company project manager named Bob, whose role was to find suitable candidates for open positions.
• 11:00 - 18:00: Discovering the Peer Rewards Program In the chapter titled 'Discovering the Peer Rewards Program', the narrator discusses their interview experience for a position involving internet applications at a navy base. They recount the interview with Bob, who is a project manager, and their uncertainty regarding whether Bob is also a programmer. The chapter sets the stage for understanding the dynamics of defense contracting and introduces Bob, who seems significant to the progression of the story.
• 18:00 - 23:00: Thanksgiving Weekend Disaster The chapter "Thanksgiving Weekend Disaster" covers an interview experience where the narrator was the only one interviewed. The interview consisted of only three questions. The first question was about the narrator's knowledge of JavaScript, to which the narrator confidently replied yes. The second question inquired about the narrator's familiarity with HTML, which was again affirmed. The third question was a bit unexpected, asking if the narrator knew how to work with programming languages. This question left the narrator puzzled.
• 23:00 - 27:00: Contract Termination and Conclusion The chapter discusses the hiring process at a government department dedicated to efficiency. It highlights the absurdity of the process, as the narrator secured a job after merely answering 'yes' to three questions, with no further interviews or assessments. The author uses this anecdote to underscore the overarching theme of exploring inefficiencies within the government department.

Department of Government Efficiency, My Job Story Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 so if you are an American you've undoubtedly heard about the department of government efficiency AKA Doge so for the non-americans watching this department of government efficiency was formed by Elon Musk and with the goal of rooting out fraud waste and abuse in the US government and trying to save taxpayers some money now regardless of how you feel about the politics it really doesn't matter it's not super relevant to the video the reason I'm making this video is I held a position in the federal government about 13 years
• 00:30 - 01:00 ago and I wanted to tell a story about it because it very much relates to government efficiency everything I'm about to tell you in this story is a true and honest account of the facts surrounding my employment at this location and for my American friends you are probably going to have feelings of anger and annoyance about what I'm about to tell you and my non-american friends will probably just laugh at the whole thing because they don't have to deal with it I have two additional goals with this Story one is to dissuade any
• 01:00 - 01:30 potential developers who want to work in the public sector from doing so definitely stick to the private sector and also people on the fence about whether the work of the Department of government efficiency is good or not maybe don't feel too bad about what they're doing this story is about a position as a developer that I held I was working at a place called the naval surface Warfare Center in Panama City of Florida now I know that may sound like a cool name but it's really not as cool as it sounds for those of you who may not
• 01:30 - 02:00 know I'm a United States Air Force veteran and so this was one of the first development jobs that I held coming out of the Air Force and after teaching for a little bit as a a contract instructor so this was a job I took mostly just to get back to the swing of things because prior to that a lot of my development experience was just side stuff and stuff that I did while I was in the Air Force and so I was I was looking for positions and I reached out to a defense contractor I I won't mention the name of the company because I'm not really
• 02:00 - 02:30 relevant but they had some positions open for uh developers and also one for a web master so the job that was for webm was closer to my house than the other ones so I applied for that one and I got a response and they wanted to set up an interview which is great so I say it up so the person I set the interview up with we'll just call him Bob I spoke with Bob on the phone and Bob mentioned that they had this position and that they'd like to interview me for it now Bob was a project manager for the company his his whole role was just to get people people in these positions
• 02:30 - 03:00 that way they could start building the government because that's that's just how the defense Contracting structure works so I I went down for the interview and I I sat down with Bob and it was just Bob in the room nobody else so I sat down with Bob and Bob mentioned that this job involved working on internet applications for this this navy base and the I I wasn't really sure if Bob was a programmer or not I knew he was a project manager but I thought maybe he was also Al programmer since he was the
• 03:00 - 03:30 only one in the interview and uh this interview consisted of a total of three questions that he asked me the first question was do you know JavaScript you to which I replied yes of course I do second question was do you know HTML and of course I replied yes the third question and this was perhaps the best one is do you know how to work with programming languages was his third question and that was I was a little puzzled by that question but you know I
• 03:30 - 04:00 answered yes and uh that was it for the interview I got the job now throughout this video You're going to hear a lot of accounting about ridiculous things that happened and as you're listening to this just remember that I'm making a video about the department of government efficiency and why it's probably not so bad because right off the bat they hired a guy who just answered yes to three questions and had to provide nothing else no interview with any other developers uh no nothing at all so I I could have been I could been anyone so that was it
• 04:00 - 04:30 they set my first day on the job and I showed up Monday morning to my brand new office and by brand new office what I really mean is an Old World War II era brick building with two feet of concrete and small windows that looked like a straight up mental Asylum uh is where I started my job so I I met with Bob outside the building and Bob walked me up to the uh development office I walked into this office it was it was quiet
• 04:30 - 05:00 uh dark cold barely any light and there was a a couple a couple stations set up with computers just one computer with one not so big Monitor and he said uh you know just just sit wherever you want so I was like all right well I'll sit by the window you know cuz it's super dark I sat down and I was immediately told that uh that particular station was reserved for a federal employee and that I was not allowed to sit near the window so I had to pick a different place the
• 05:00 - 05:30 office I was working in consisted of five people and it was four contractors and one Federal guy it was two developers and then one uh DBA who was actually really sharp probably the smartest guy I think I've ever met on databases and then the federal guy who I sat down with who introduced me to the uh stuff that was being worked on this guy spent more time talking about himself and how awesome he was and he made it sound like he was the uh Dennis
• 05:30 - 06:00 Richie of uh of of programming and but it it became clear later after I started looking at what was being built in this office that absolutely nobody aside from the DBA had any clue what was going on so I sat down at my workstation they got me set up with everything and I got logged in and all that and they gave me access to the the shared drive that they have that they had all the software on it and one of the first things I noticed is that they had Absolut abely no Source
• 06:00 - 06:30 control of any kind and now this was 2012 which means that you know git was just getting off the ground there was a competing product called Mercurial that was just getting off the ground and so I didn't really expect them to have any distributed system but they could have definitely had SVN or CVS or or something like that uh but but they had nothing I I would later find out that the reason they didn't have any of that is because it takes years and years for for the security office to review this
• 06:30 - 07:00 software to make sure that it doesn't pose any kind of security risk even something as simple as Source control and since they couldn't verify any of it we just weren't allowed to use any of that at all this was also around the time that I realized the the job that Bob interviewed me for was not actually the job that I was going to be doing which was amazing because I I asked them what I was going to work on you know I said I was the new Web Master for the
• 07:00 - 07:30 the internet you know and that I'm I'm a JavaScript guy in HTML and CSS and they said oh we we do do net here and I was like okay um you mean I I do net CU I don't really know net or or you do net and they said well well we're doing net but you're going to have to do that as well you could also use classic ASP I said well I don't know that either that's isn't that end of life you know it's 2012 so long story short I did very little little JavaScript and I had to
• 07:30 - 08:00 learn net on the job as I was going now I I wasn't a net developer at the time I was a PHP developer I I didn't know a great deal about JavaScript but there there wasn't a ton of that to do so I I got assigned my first project it was for something called the peer Rewards program and in in in this folder so actually first of all so the the folder that had all the projects this office maintained about 80 internet applications and every single
• 08:00 - 08:30 application was its own folder and it was just a a duplicate of a previous folder there was absolutely no reuse uh most of the stuff was built in classic ASP very few of the projects were built in net mostly because only one of the other guys new net and the other guy just did classic ASP they had a uh a really complex and really weird home brewed JavaScript framework that was it was it was kind of like a
• 08:30 - 09:00 really bad version of jQuery and you had to build your entire you had to build your I'm just I'm just cringing having to repeat all this you know you you had to build your entire like HTML structure by using JavaScript functions so you would you you would type like addore div a JavaScript function and somebody at some point thought this was good and they they built all this software based on this this kind of setup and it
• 09:00 - 09:30 it became pretty clear to me later that the reason they were doing this was you know if you're the only one that knows a piece of software how can they ever get rid of you well the answer is they can't you know you are now the permanent maintainer of that software and you can never lose your job the irony of course is the person that built all this end up quitting anyway and stuck the entire office with this so this office was completely devoid of any standards of any kind and it really showed but anyway
• 09:30 - 10:00 the project I was working on was the peer Rewards program and this I I didn't know what it was at the time but this this really became the downfall for me and the reason that I wanted to not work here anymore so the the way that software got built in this office is just random people from random departments would just meet with you directly and just say I want this this this and this you know there was no real formalized plan it was it it was really
• 10:00 - 10:30 a bunch of just ad hoc development and so I got sent down to the perer awards program office to you know gather what the requirements were for the software so I could go back and build it and this is this is when I discovered the the biggest waste of money that I think I've ever seen in my life so what the peer Rewards program ended up being I I walked into this office it was probably a a 5,000 ft office and it was really just like a merch store okay and it was
• 10:30 - 11:00 it was like hats and pens and and lanyards and uh you know soccer ball and and you know just a bunch of stupid stuff just just tons and tons of of stupid garbage and so I I I sat down with these two people the two people that administered this program just to try to understand what it did and she said oh well the way this program works is you know federal
• 11:00 - 11:30 employees get a certain amount of of points you know they get a certain amount of points per month and then what they can do is they can go up to somebody and they can say you know uh hey John you know you're doing a terrific job have 300 points and then what that person can do is they can take these magic 300 points down to the peer rewards store and they can get free merch with it and the person that gave the points they don't have to pay anything it's just it's it's
• 11:30 - 12:00 basically federal employees giving each other free stuff and the US taxpayer pays for it and I was hired to build that application okay I'm making a good amount of money there's two federal employees in there who I would later learn were making $992,000 a piece plus all the merch plus this big office just to give each other free stuff I I have to imagine hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent on
• 12:00 - 12:30 this uh per per year and you know how many other bases are doing the exact same thing probably all of them so I had all my notes went back to the office and I started to work on this and I I I just kind of did my job I I I was really not liking it there it was just it was absolutely miserable the whole job was soul sucking and it just it wasn't good work I wasn't proud of any of it it was it just it wasn't the way I work it's not what I did uh and fortunately in a
• 12:30 - 13:00 few days it wouldn't matter anyway so we left for I started this job in uh I think like August or something like that and we left for Thanksgiving weekend and in in this office like if you walked out of my office and turned left and walked like 20 seconds you'd be at double doors and Beyond those double doors were the uh that was the data center for for the base and um I was in there just a couple times to speak with
• 13:00 - 13:30 someone about something and these machines were just ancient they're just old and that's that's going to be important later so Thanksgiving weekend everybody went home for the weekend and apparently In This World War II building that hasn't been retrofit or upgraded in like you know 80 years um the AC to the data center turned off and because these systems were so an anent and they didn't have
• 13:30 - 14:00 proper controls it got extremely hot in there and it started melting down hardware and one of the pieces of Hardware that destroyed was the main database so I had nothing to do with that okay cuz I didn't control a database I didn't work in the data center nothing it's just a programmer SL webmaster slash whatever and so we went in there Monday morning and they got the doors open you know they got like fans blown in there and uh you know it was like the best way I can describe it is uh is
• 14:00 - 14:30 this it was the Spider-Man meme you know you had the you had like the federal employer responsible for the data center he was pointing over there he's like the contractor should have been you know watching it the contractor was like I wasn't even here man this is your fault and uh and yeah the whole the whole thing melted down and as it turned out absolutely nobody got fired um probably not even reprimanded probably nothing at all
• 14:30 - 15:00 and our database was gone as well as some of our code and so I just kind of sat around and did absolutely nothing because that's what they told me to do they're like well we have to get everything fixed and uh I I I sat around for like two weeks like literally two weeks I showed up for work for eight hours I sat in a chair I I I did like nothing at all for an entire two weeks and towards the end of that time my company had actually lost the contract that was being renewed for this
• 15:00 - 15:30 project and I'm I'm just kind of Expediting the rest of the story because the rest of the story doesn't really matter it the the end state was that I I got a call from the new company saying yeah we'll offer you your same position at onethird the pay uh and obviously I said you know no and then I left and I never came back so anyway that that's really the end of the story that that's how the whole thing went and so I I guess I just told you that whole story just to say that it
• 15:30 - 16:00 really wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to make the US government a little more efficient if I had my way I would have deleted that office and any offices like it and fired anyone that was even Associated to something similar because that particular program served absolutely no purpose whatsoever and and was without question in the 39 years I've been alive the biggest waste of money that I've
• 16:00 - 16:30 ever seen so the moral of the story I guess is maybe just let Doge cook a little bit and and figure stuff out it's not going to be so bad but I hope you liked my story I I hate that it sounds so made up but I promise you it's not and of course if you've ever had a ridiculously dumb job let me know Below in the comments have a great day or night and take care