As I mentioned in another thread, I work for state government and our IT salaries are capped at a max of around $87k/year (most positions are capped lower). As a result, it's extremely difficult to hire someone who isn't a net negative to the team.
Since we have no power to adjust salaries, we're looking at other avenues, such as doing more "direct from community college" in-training hires as well as non-traditional employment paths.
Unlike USDS and 18F, we don't even have exciting projects, a shortcut around bureaucracy, or cutting edge technologies to sell with. The only sales tool we have for candidates is "if you complete your 6 months probationary, you can essentially never be fired or laid off." Sometimes, that attracts the wrong sort of candidate, as you can probably imagine. :)
Since we have no power to adjust salaries, we're looking at other avenues, such as doing more "direct from community college" in-training hires as well as non-traditional employment paths.
Unlike USDS and 18F, we don't even have exciting projects, a shortcut around bureaucracy, or cutting edge technologies to sell with. The only sales tool we have for candidates is "if you complete your 6 months probationary, you can essentially never be fired or laid off." Sometimes, that attracts the wrong sort of candidate, as you can probably imagine. :)