>- Government jobs don't pay well relative to the private sector, especially in software, so the government talent pool is lower quality than industry.
If we're discussing the USA, sure. If we're discussing other countries this isn't always necessarily true, and as the person you responded to has noted, this happens worldwide.
That is just one of the three points I made (and I personally think the final point is the most salient here). Though I'm curious, do you know of any countries where government software jobs pay market rate? I would be interested to see if their government websites are decent.
If we're discussing the USA, sure. If we're discussing other countries this isn't always necessarily true, and as the person you responded to has noted, this happens worldwide.