If you think the gov’t work is actually more meaningful and fulfilling than what anyone at Google has been doing, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.

Working on banner ads is the kind of thing you will tell your grandkids about.

The only folks I know who were doing actual meaningful gov’t work couldn’t tell their grandkids about it either. Still classified.

I assume people find meaning in different ways (perhaps I was being unfair to the tech-advertising business). I've always thought the Library of Congress, Smithsonian, NASA, or the National Park Service might potentially be amazing places to work, depending on the role. Looking at a full list of federal government agencies it doesn't seem crazy to me that people could find meaningful work in some of the others.

Nothing as meaningful as maintenance programming at Google, of course. At least the paychecks wouldn't be as meaningful.