On March 1st, 2025 at midnight ET, I received notice of a “reduction in force (RIF)” from the Technology Transformation Services. While frantically reading the email and processing what it meant, I was getting texts and calls from my coworkers saying they’d received the same letter. Within the next hour, we’d slowly realize that everyone within our office, 18F, had received the notice. We’d all been put on administrative leave, and locked out of systems, immediately.
I will be the first to admit I’m a bit behind the times. Having worked in a context where every piece of software you use is heavily scrutinized, I haven’t had much exposure to genAI since I started working for the government.
Recently I started thinking about employment beyond these confines, for obvious reasons. And so I’ve been using genAI a bit, mostly on free plans. I’ve tried out the major chat interfaces, and settled on a Pro account for the next month with Antrophic. Why Anthropic and Claude? Well, it was the most enjoyable to use, they aren’t a FAANG, and I am the most convinced by their philosophy on safety.
Who am I? I’m a software engineer with over a decade of experience. For the last four years I have had the honor of being a civil servant at 18F, which is part of the General Services Administration.
The work I do is best catagorized as bueaucracy wrangling. I try to navigate large systems to get work done, and hope that in the end that work is a great ROI for taxpayers. As a taxpayer myself, I certainly think so. Our organization has a great influence far beyond the confines of 1800 F St. in Washington, D.C. Our guides are referenced by digital services across the U.S. and even globally.