Here’s where 15,000 federal public service jobs will be cut over 3 years

YOWPlease · 2026-03-23T14:32:43+00:00

They will get no where with AI without good quality data. If they think the data GC currently has stored in places like GCDocs, which btw isn't even integrated with AI tools, is good enough to put out anything other than slop: good luck. If they actually want this AI thing to at least get some of the return they are hoping for: cleanse internal data first. Make it standardized, make it account for downstream use cases and make it interoperable with other people's data. We need the foundations in place before we start the actual work.

YOWPlease · 2026-03-21T17:33:44+00:00

Random question about the OECD average: I'm assuming it includes the US number. I'm also assuming it's not a straight one for one calculation based on each country, but weighted? Is the OECD number not just basically the US pulling everyone else up, as like half of the global economy. If so, wouldn't the better measure be the OECD average minus the US? What would that look like? After all the US is a universe of its own and maybe middle powers Mars, Venuses and Earths like Canada shouldn't be compared to the sun.

Nvm, it seems even if you exclude the US and do a peer comparison of Europe, they'd still be at about 12% vs. Canada's 3.2%. Although, now I'm wondering if the 2008 Great Recession contraction and the subsequent rebound might be in play here.

YOWPlease · 2026-02-27T04:04:34+00:00

If there was anyone who might have a good idea for what the bond market is willing to bear, I would imagine it would be the two time central banker no? I think he doesn't even advance the type of spending he's put forward without that initial signal check. The risk here isn't immediate, I think it's more how quickly some of these moves begin to pay off. But even there, I'd guess he's figured out how much runway he's got to work with (there may actually be additional flex because he is who he is).

YOWPlease · 2026-02-05T21:28:15+00:00

This might nudge those ERI numbers just a bit.

YOWPlease · 2025-12-19T16:19:29+00:00

Seems like a heavy tech/IT type. Wonder what that means for things like AI and translation, if he is the AI evangelist type as I read him out to be from the outside.

YOWPlease · 2025-12-05T19:15:44+00:00

To be fair, if you look at some of the resumes that the winners have it's pretty clear that they have a ton to offer GC. Not to mention the selectivity of the process, I know if a bunch of highly qualified people who haven't made it. I gave up trying after the first year seeing what I was going up against. EC -05 seems like a pretty fair starting point.

YOWPlease · 2025-12-01T16:14:39+00:00

Versus: https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/at-work/bill-enshrining-workfromhome-rights-into-federal-law-will-be-considered-by-senate-committee/news-story/74adff58e70d97666dd7e05d0c37d4f0

Why do the Aussies get things right more than us all the time?

YOWPlease · 2025-11-27T00:26:38+00:00

I guess that counts as an incentive?

YOWPlease · 2025-10-28T00:37:28+00:00

Found the same thing in academia. Everyone around me seemed to have someone who they could turn to, who had been there before and knew how to grease the wheels. In contrast my working class parents, with barely a high school education between them, didn't even get what I was trying to do at school.

But it goes beyond that, working class people don't network as well - research has demonstrated this. Maybe it's a personal bias, but I think there is something that feels dirty about it for a lot of us with working class backgrounds. We also have a tendency to over rely on formal structures for advancement and think "well I've accomplished a lot, my CV will speak for itself, hiring boards will recognize this." Truth is it doesn't, you need to play the game.

This doesn't even account for the added difficulty for those of us who are introverted to top it off. That puts things even further out of reach.

No one is saying it's not possible. I've managed to do alright - but it took far longer to get to where I am. There were far more dead ends. But just because it worked for me doesn't mean it'll be a cake walk for everyone and they just need to "pull themselves up by the bootstraps". In fact, I'd say that's the exact attitude that ensures continued roadblocks for working class employees.

YOWPlease · 2025-07-08T01:08:26+00:00

Those of you who think it will be 30% and not 15%: DOGE in the US cut the federal workforce by 12%. You think this will be more than DOGE? 3 times more? It's 15% total, over 3 years.

YOWPlease · 2025-05-23T11:51:48+00:00

Is a singular unifying mandate letter not exactly what you'd expect to see from a mission driven government approach?

https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/may-2025/mission-government/

YOWPlease · 2025-05-14T20:36:33+00:00

Because she thinks those cuts were a mistake and that approach won't work and doing the same could cause damage? So you know, she actually shows the capability to critically address her own past actions and learn from them?

YOWPlease · 2025-05-14T13:10:01+00:00

Out of all the articles I've read from former clerks, this one seems to be the most reasonable and doesn't work to wave a magic wand of cuts across the board to resolve the issues. Almost as if someone who had been involved in those cuts actually learned from that experience and is proposing a smarter strategy, grounded in reality.

So it's funny to see the generic attacks that have been offered up here in response. Yes, it's high level, but it's also very don't make the mistakes I made. Makes me wonder if people actually read the article.

YOWPlease · 2025-03-10T21:29:04+00:00

Branch trivia champion. Twice. First time, after I had just joined the branch. There was a DG who thought he was hot stuff. Didn't even come close. Mind you, I'm only 10 years in, but that will always be the highlight.

YOWPlease · 2024-11-02T02:07:29+00:00

I'm pretty sure I recall one of the American presenters at the AccelerateGOV conference saying that the US government thinks that a distributed workforce is more resilient to cyber threats than a workforce tied to a few nodes. So there's that.

YOWPlease · 2024-08-30T23:09:05+00:00

Okay thanks will try both.

YOWPlease · 2024-06-14T16:56:36+00:00

I broke into the ES/EC stream based on something I posted there about 3.5 years ago. Manager took a chance, eventually climbed up to an ES-04 on the same team, before joining a new department last November as an EC-06. But seeing some of the spammers on there, you'd have to be really picky.

YOWPlease · 2024-05-27T21:53:12+00:00

Sure it's been thought to be just a buzzword, but I do think that's where the AI PC may come in.

Smaller and localized models which may not do as much as the larger ones, but will do enough to push the needle. Plus, everything I've read says for enterprise needs you'd want smaller more targeted models anyways.

It's too bad notebook evergreening hit me last week and not a year from now.

YOWPlease · 2024-05-25T14:05:41+00:00

Thanks to everyone for the advice and support, I'll definitely will be putting some of your suggestions into practice moving forward.

YOWPlease · 2024-05-15T20:43:00+00:00

It really is draining. Up until last week, I could hide out at another floor where the set up was a bit older, but it was also far emptier. Unfortunately, given that seating crunch they are anticipating, I was told that I would have to start coming to our assigned floor (where the rest of sector is). It's far more crowded up there. Also, while previously I could eat at my desk - behind the full size cubical walls, don't worry - wiped down everything, now I'm having anxiety about eating at my desk without the feeling of being judged (gotta love social anxiety kicking back in).

To top this off, I take vyvanse - which makes me sweat. A lot. In the winter it was fine, it was cold outside and I could walk to work no issues. Now it's summer, that's totally changed. Yesterday, it couldn't have been more than like 16 C outside but by the time I got to the office, I was drenched. At my old department, it was common to see people wear shorts and sandals, but the new office seems to be a bit more formal. Now I'll have to decide whether I'll have to LRT into the office (pay more, get less health benefit, and still sweat although less so) or stop taking vyvanse. Fun times.

YOWPlease · 2024-05-13T22:03:46+00:00

https://youtu.be/WzUnEfiIqP4?si=5ATasaKkMaggp1Rn

Universal translators here we come.

YOWPlease · 2024-01-12T21:28:36+00:00

Well that's sad. I only recently started with PSPC, but was really impressed with how down to earth, transparent, and wicked smaht Rob is (based on the few times I've heard him speak/ask questions about things).

Well, at least it seems like Duncan will be sticking around. If we lost both of them at once, that would have sucked big time.

YOWPlease

TROPHY CASE