(music playing)
Mikey Dickerson: These tours of duty that
we set people up with, like, these are
things that they're going
to be telling their grandkids about.
Like, there was that time when I worked
for the White House.
And here's what I did at the White House.
And it was more meaningful than anything
I've done before or since.
Kathy Pham: In tech, I think a lot
of us -- we just love solving really big,
complex, difficult problems and thinking, all right,
there is this crazy problem.
I know software, I know technology, so how
do I use that knowledge to fix it?
Like, just any big problem.
Eric Maland: Yeah.
I never, ever pictured myself doing this until
I saw someone else doing it
and thought, that's awesome.
I finally get to use my skills to actually make
a difference in people's lives -- and I think
a long-term difference.
Megan Smith: The United States Digital
Service is the Americans who have tech skills come
into government and helping do what we need to do from
D.C. and across this country.
Rachel Harrison-Gordon: Well, I never
expected to be here.
And I realize that that's something I said
with each step forward that I've taken so far.
Hillary Hartley: Right now it's just
a really critical time to get technologists into the
government because there is -- there is a huge
desire and need.
Ann Mei Chang: The skills that we have
as technologists in the private sector are still
quite rare in government.
And whether it's for a year, or six months,
or two months, or even for a couple weeks,
the time that you spend in U.S.
government can make a dramatic impact.
Haley Van Dyck: Figuring out how we can use
technology better to help lives
of American people is not a new challenge
for the federal government.
This is something that we've been working
on since day one of the Administration.
And Administrations before us have tried to solve as well.
Eric Maland: I have explained to people
how broken things are.
And a lot of them have asked me, "Why would
you walk into that?"
And the answer is, because it matters.
Kathy Pham: You know, I thought
about this and I just remember thinking,
wow, I know technology.
This is how I'll serve my country.
Mikey Dickerson: In many cases we're addressing
the needs of the people who are most in need,
for whatever definition you want to use,
least able to help themselves.
And that's a real difference between
the kind of stuff that we typically did
in Silicon Valley.
Sarah Allen: We shifted how people are
working, facilitated by technology,
and those shifts will outlast the specific technical
solutions that we build.
And that opportunity is unparalleled.
Rachel Harrison-Gordon: At times I'm not sure
if I'll finish my term with a concrete deliverable.
But I know that the culture is shifting,
and that has to start some time.
Megan Smith: Some people are hands-on
keyboard coders.
There's also amazing designers.
There's amazing design thinking people.
There's product managers.
There's people who really know that subject matter
or that user who are, you know, scrubbed in together
on these fabulous cross-functional teams.
So you may not think you belong in the
United States Digital Service, but we want you.