AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are from Dept of Defense

Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by blacktriangle on Friday June 04, 2021 @02:14PM (#27396916)

A big part of this is the need for workers with security clearance to service your government contracts. Its far far easier to hire people who have clearance rather than hire somebody and then pay for them to go through the process, and the DoD has the majority of people with security clerance.

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by xkjkls on Friday June 04, 2021 @03:52PM (#27398343)

I formerly worked in AWS on a team that had occasional minor need to deploy and make changes to the GovCloud. I was the only US Citizen on my team and was required for every single deployment.

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by whoknew1122 on Friday June 04, 2021 @06:02PM (#27399586)

Yup. Not only do you have to be a US Citizen, but you also have to be on US soil. So if you're on vacation internationally? Can't make that change.

AWS takes that stuff very seriously.

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by atatatat on Saturday June 05, 2021 @01:09AM (#27402393)

Can you tell me what country I have to be in to cancel my services and stop being billed?

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by shalmanese on Sunday June 06, 2021 @12:41AM (#27410839)

Iran

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by bunfunton on Saturday June 05, 2021 @01:36AM (#27402519)

Suuuuure. Whoops and there goes a vpn tunnel with a residential endpoint.

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by prpl on Saturday June 05, 2021 @01:08AM (#27402388)

That’s not particularly surprising. I spent a lot of time on an army base in mid aughts as an undergrad for a similar reason, decommissioning an astrophysics project.

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by austincheney on Friday June 04, 2021 @05:58PM (#27399556)

I can only imagine turning off the lights and sending people home in those moments where you have a late night family emergency.

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by xkjkls on Monday June 07, 2021 @11:55AM (#27424040)

pretty much all of the times I was needed were scheduled, so there was rarely surprises.

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by arcanus on Friday June 04, 2021 @05:40PM (#27399391)

Did this give you incredible leverage for performance reviews, raises, etc?

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by xkjkls on Monday June 07, 2021 @11:54AM (#27424036)

none at all; this task was just literally a "hit the button".

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by Natsu on Friday June 04, 2021 @05:36PM (#27399344)

It also helps if you have people who are just familiar with the things the government is trying to do, too, so they don't just get blank stares when they start discussing IAVAs and STIGs.

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by cosmodisk on Friday June 04, 2021 @06:09PM (#27399647)

It does a lot. I have someone in the family,who went from working for the government regulator to going into the private sector and literally exchanging emails with ex colleagues a few days later. Knows the system, what's doable and what's not and so on.

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by walshemj on Friday June 04, 2021 @04:24PM (#27398679)

And I bet that Amazon pays a lot better for SC (DV) cleared workers than the DOD does.

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by mixmastamyk on Friday June 04, 2021 @05:23PM (#27399229)

Likely, but Amazon isn't known for its high salaries, is it? Also govt jobs typically have good benefits so a 1:1 salary comparison may not make sense.

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by influx on Friday June 04, 2021 @05:30PM (#27399288)

What's high? They are competitive with other FAANG. Source: I worked at both Amazon and Facebook. Amazon also offers a bonus for having a clearance.

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by wikibob on Friday June 04, 2021 @07:55PM (#27400528)

What’s the bonus?

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by influx on Tuesday June 15, 2021 @03:26AM (#27512325)

IIRC $15,000 / year

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Re:AWS hired 66 former US gov officials since 2018; half are... by eschulz on Friday June 04, 2021 @03:04PM (#27397688)

Indeed. Take into account the security clearance matter, and the fact that these two organizations work closely together 24/7, and this just makes sense. With whom would AWS have a closer relationship than with the DoD or DHS?

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