Can you comment on how likely it is to actually get a call back when applying to these roles? My experience in applying for government jobs is an application process that takes hours and having to have someone guide you to the "right" open positions and the "right" way to apply to have any chance at all to see any return on hours of your time.
edit: Am I looking at this right? There's no specific job roles, you just submit a general vague application and they call you back if they think there's an open job you'd be good at?
I left USDS in June 2021, but during my time there, there were no job roles. USDS has "communities of practice" that roughly correspond to the roles you would see at a big tech firm (e.g., software engineers join the Engineering CoP, PMs join the Product CoP, recruiters join the Talent CoP), but the expectation is that USDSers will work on a wide variety of projects that utilize their tech skills.
USDS has a streamlined hiring process that is much quicker than you see elsewhere in government. I submitted a resume, got a call back in a couple of days, did two phone interviews, then got an offer to join the Engineering CoP. The post-offer process was extremely government-y, but by that time, I was excited to join and willing to put up with a lot. After joining, I was given an opportunity to choose a project to work on. I ended up working on ~6 projects across 3 agencies during my two years there.
I wanted to go back into a role where I could spend most of my day coding. I would like to go back and do another 2 year term at some point, but I'd like to advance more in my IC role first.
Absolutely! The kind of impact you can have working on government services is pretty astounding, and USDS is a great way for people with private industry bona fides to dip into civic work, complete a few projects, then return to their high paying jobs.
Hi, I work at USDS (and have worked generally on the hiring process for technologists). You're right about that for many agencies - the reasons being many and systemic, but it shouldn't apply with USDS.
You don't need a government-style resume to apply with USDS. Two sets of human eyes review your resume fairly quickly. Most often you hear back on the status of your application within 1-2 weeks. Good luck!!
edit: Am I looking at this right? There's no specific job roles, you just submit a general vague application and they call you back if they think there's an open job you'd be good at?