Ask HN: How pivot into a (viable) US Government career in tech?
throwaway to speak more freely. FWIW I kicked the tires on this recently and am your age. The government is also big onto &quot;tours of duty&quot; so I think there is little harm in trying it out for a year or two and moving on if you don&#x27;t like it.<p>Broadly, I think of the space as 3 main categories of &quot;influential&quot; ways to work as a technologist in government: innovation, defense, and policy.<p>I&#x27;ll start with policy first. You can be the technical subject matter expert for a legislator or within some government agency. Or you can go work for a private firm that attempts to influence different types of policies. I would recommend looking at TechCongress (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.techcongress.io" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.techcongress.io</a>) as a starting point. Travis Moore also runs a tech policy jobs newsletter you can look at in order to get a feel for things.<p>I consider &quot;innovation&quot; to be roles where you&#x27;re applying modern startup methodologies to government procurement and processes. The classics here are US Digital Service&#x2F;18F, although you should really consider the US Digital Corps (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;digitalcorps.gsa.gov" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;digitalcorps.gsa.gov</a>), a brand-new program designed specifically for new college grads. If this had existed ~2 years ago, I would probably have done this. Some states (California, Colorado) and even individual cities (NYC) have similar programs.<p>The last aspect is defense sector. You will need a Top Secret clearance. This means no major crimes, no major debt, no excessive foreign contacts, no drugs, and potentially a polygraph. That covers both your past and your future. You also will to report all foreign travel and requests may not be approved.<p>You can work for a defense contractor or check out one of the newer &quot;startups&quot; like Anduril or one of the spin-offs like Vannevar Labs. FWIW the people I have talked to who have worked at some of the smaller, more niche contractors loved it even if they couldn&#x27;t tell me why due to classification.<p>Obviously, you can also &quot;join the military&quot;, although this is more complicated than it seems (determining which service, deciding between active&#x2F;Guard&#x2F;reserves, choosing officer&#x2F;warrant&#x2F;enlisted, technical&#x2F;non-technical, etc.). You can pull these levers to best fit your personal situation. Be sure to do your homework as there are many pitfalls. For example, you cannot guarantee Cyber with an active-duty Army contract but you can as a part-timer. The service obligations might vary as well. I joined the Army as a reservist and am quite happy with my decision so far but I am still new so don&#x27;t want to speak with certainty. The last thing to note, at least for Army Cyber, is that the branch is changing extremely quickly: new job roles, shifting cultures, etc. so don&#x27;t over-index on any particular piece as it could be gone by the time you&#x27;re out of training. I would not let any self-diagnosed medical conditions eliminate the military from your options if you have it on the brain.<p>Happy to answer more questions here if you have them or offline if you put contact info in your profile.