Talking to Mr. Money Mustache about the US Digital Service

Last week, I passed my one year anniversary as head of the US Digital Service (USDS). So when Mr. Money Mustache asked for an interview, I was delighted to talk about some of the work that the USDS does. If you aren’t familiar with Mr. Money Mustache, he writes about a philosophy of badassity in which people make better life choices like biking to work or saving a higher percentage of their paychecks.

I remember discovering Mr. Money Mustache and immediately reading through most of his site, so it was a pleasure to do an interview with him. And if you haven’t heard of the US Digital Service before, this interview is a good chance to find out more. The US Digital Service is still here, still working on projects that matter, and we’re hiring.

26 Responses to Talking to Mr. Money Mustache about the US Digital Service (Leave a comment)

  1. Matt-
    Working with the USDS is not a permanent job is it not- my understanding is you get a 3- to 12-month stint and then leave – Is this correct?

    Thanks,
    Karl

    • Karl, it’s true that it’s not a permanent job, but you can stay up to two years with the possibility to renew your term again. In practice, the average length of stay is about a year and a month.

  2. Great to see that a career change can be fun.

  3. I am super proud of you for doing this.
    You have made the world a much better place and continue to do so.

    It was fun coming to the blog tonight by chance and finding only two comments.

    It reminds me of the old days when I would check on Sunday nights, and find you had often just posted πŸ™‚

    Let’s all keep making this planet a better place. πŸ™‚

  4. Hello Matt,

    I noticed the article about your change on Twitter was curious decided to follow the link which eventually brought me to this page, I proceeded to the link for application, then to positions that require work authorization.

    Which I am diagnosed and qualified for that I continued with the preference link eventually to the link what is reasonable accommodations and I found a broken link which I think you would be curious about here it is.

    the Reasonable Accommodation section in the HR Professionals chapter of this website, and the EEOC. The EEOC link is broken.
    Regards

  5. Might opening a Denver, CO office make sense?

  6. Hi! I am pretty sure you will leave your mark there too! Wish you all the best!

  7. I just want to receive a notification when you create a new post! And did not know how else to do so other than to leave a comment.

    Thanks,

    Tyler

  8. Never read such a nice word before: badassity πŸ™‚
    I am already thinking about where I can use in real life.

    The interview by MMM was an interesting read as I was not aware of the Digital Service. Wondering if an agency like thatis available in my country (Germany).

    All the best.
    Tom

  9. Randy Reichenfeld

    I was at The Unrig the System summit as the chapter leader of Represent.LasVegas this past weekend. I saw a guy with a ‘Code For America’ jacket. I remember listening to a podcast or reading an article about it, but I couldn’t quite remember where I heard about Code For America. It wasn’t until the next day I remembered it was from the Mr. Money Mustache interview. I pulled it up and realized the guy wearing the jacket looked a lot like the guy being interviewed. I’m now back in Vegas and catching up on chapter business and learned that Matt Cutts is a board member of Represent.Us!

    I wanted to reach out and say thanks for your work with Represent.Us and being there this past weekend. And also the work you do with Code for America. I wish I could have told you in person at the Summit. Even though I’m not a coder or software engineer I can appreciate the work you’re doing to help others.

  10. Deeply meaningful.

  11. Hi Matt,
    I found the site of Mr. Money Mustache while reading some arcticles in your blog. His articles are so inspiring to me, wow. I just want to say thank your for that too.
    Best regards,
    Mike

  12. Congratulations Matt for a year that you have accomplished with USDS.

  13. At some-point we need to agree that we get bored of doing same job for longtime. So we find more meaningful stuff to do. And that’s how it should be. πŸ˜‰

  14. Really enjoyed your interview. It’s a dream of mine to be so on FIRE that I can do what you are doing in a second career arc. Hopefully that’s sooner than later. You’ve been a great example, Matt! Love that you’re also a Mustachian.

  15. Working within the insurance field, I can say that the healthcare.gov website has been a lifesaver for us. Our focus is on other insurance areas, but of course our customers also want health insurance, so we are very happy to guide them to the healthcare.gov site, which actually does a good job for diy insurance buying. Being in the business, I can tell you, insurance is not a walk in the park, it’s complex, along with qualification process. Appreciate the USDS for saving the day!

  16. With a name like Mr. Money Mustache, he’s got to be good.

  17. glad to see you there πŸ™‚

  18. I appreciate your work in USDS and you are doing a lot as a Digital guru.Is it possible to have a small interview based on few questions you can respond through email? i am from Pakistan and want to create Digital awareness to the individuals and businesses to use digital media platforms for their cause.
    Hope you will help.
    Thanks

  19. Hi matt
    How are You?
    It has been a long time i had seen your blog.
    I would like to add a few of my concerns regarding code and content. Many software professionals and web developers manipulate code for personal gains.If a wonderful pruduct like data highlighter is available what is the need for complicated structured data and schema org(ass m) tags inside code?
    Cant structured data be highlighted using google data higjlighter?
    There was a time when i trusted google. But nowadays i feel that google is providing unnecessary importance to code espectially structured mark up (or mark in between legs)
    Most proprietary doftware cheat google.
    Do are you happy with that as an ex rmlloyee at Google.
    Or do you want to inform upur old collegues?

  20. Hey Matt.. You have not changed your about me page to reflect your new position! Best of luck !

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