"In August 2014, President Obama and Congress created the United States Digital Service (USDS).<p>In January 2025, President Trump signed an executive order to rename and reorganize it as the United States DOGE Service.<p>[...]<p>On March 17 2025, I joined DOGE as a software engineer working for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)."<p>Some important details that should also be mentioned is that:<p>- "On February 14, 2025, along with other layoffs across the Federal government, several dozen employees who were part of the United States Digital Service prior to the January 20 inauguration of Donald Trump, were dismissed with an email saying, "Due to the restructuring and changes to USDS's mission, USDS no longer has a need for your services."[30][31][32] Of the remaining 65 employees in the department, 21 resigned with a joint resignation letter on February 25 that stated, "We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans' sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services" (from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Digital_Service" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Digital_Service</a> )<p>- On March 1st, 2025 - " The former employees of 18F said in a joint statement that they had been abruptly locked out of their computers and email at midnight EST, with "no chance to assist in an orderly transition in our work."[28][29] The 18F website was taken offline the same day." ( from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18F#Mass_firings_and_elimination" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18F#Mass_firings_and_eliminati...</a> )
From the article<p>> In 2016, I canvassed for Bernie Sanders. I spent my first day in Nevada
> walking door-to-door in the desert heat with a dying phone battery and a stack > of printed papers delineating potential voters, thinking "there really should > be an app for this." There, I ended up writing some Google Apps code for
> caucus result reporting.
>
> This was a chance to do something bigger.<p>The original motivations <i>as stated</i> seem to be good. Essentially, he wanted to leverage technology to deliver positive impact, a sentiment that most of the HN audience will resonate with.<p>I'm wondering if the author evaluated his initial convictions with the ongoing <i>actual</i> negative impact DOGE was causing just a few days in. Sure, it's hard to leave a paying job if your mortgage depends on it, but in the DOGE case pay was minimal if it even existed. If this was a move of conviction, then there were plenty of signs that the stated purpose of DOGE was not being followed. Yet, I can't fail but notice that the author stuck around with DOGE till he was unceremoniously fired.
OP, you're not getting a lot of nice words in the comments here — understandably, many are upset with DOGE — but I appreciate you taking the time to write this. It's a great insight into DOGE and the motivations of the people that chose to work there, which we have been missing. Thank you!
Sounds like someone who genuinely wants to make an impact, donated his time to do so, and wrote some stuff to potentially help while giving us a glimpse into the daily life of a high-profile group. I really appreciate this.
Getting fired from DOGE by having your access spontaneously revoked without explanation is extremely on-brand for DOGE.<p>I think Sahil honestly wanted to do well, but writing like this makes it clear that he wasn't immune to the Elon Musk reality distortion field:<p>> Meanwhile, the public was seeing news reports of mass firings that seemed cruel and heartless, many assuming DOGE was directly responsible.<p>> In reality, DOGE had no direct authority. The real decisions came from the agency heads appointed by President Trump, who were wise to let DOGE act as the 'fall guy' for unpopular decisions.<p>This is lie. We've all heard the claim that Elon is just an "adviser", but when he's following Trump around and showing up in cabinet meetings everyone knows what's going on.<p>There are countless news articles, Elon Musk news clips, leaked e-mails sent to all federal workers from DOGE, and court cases ( <a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/litigation/2025/05/judge-extends-ban-on-large-scale-rifs-indefinitely/" rel="nofollow">https://federalnewsnetwork.com/litigation/2025/05/judge-exte...</a> ).<p>Trying to claim that DOGE was just about efficiency and little stuff like improving websites at this point is attempting to rewrite history.
LLM to review PDFs, a demo of a LLM chat bot, and zero self-awareness.<p>> Sped up AI adoption: According to a VA engineer, accelerated adoption by "12 months"<p>Yes, let's trust the person scared for their job talking to the person representing the group responsible for letting people go. I'm sure they had a completely unbiased opinion and had no reason to blow smoke up your butt. /s<p>Reading through the Fast Company article that lost him his job [0] it really comes across as someone who should know better but doesn't.<p>> “I’m basically taking Elon at his word,” he admits.<p>Bozo bit flipped.<p>Also someone who has a very self-inflated sense of worth<p>> But in the government, I really believe that I can have billions of dollars of positive impact just by being technically minded.<p>Does the government need improving/modernizing? Yes. Is the way to do it with a sledgehammer? No.<p>I don't know what you call someone who seems unconcerned of the fact that the wool has been pulled over their eyes and wears their gullibility proudly for all to see. To get fired for talking to the press without explanation and just being ok with that?? Just insanity.<p>[0] <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/91330297/doge-sahil-lavignia-gumroad" rel="nofollow">https://www.fastcompany.com/91330297/doge-sahil-lavignia-gum...</a>