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Since folks are gonna have opinions about local town IT because of The News™, here's a thread for you: Many years ago I was the ~IT manager for a small town. I did a little bit of everything. The equipment/services budget was around $35k, iirc.
"Wait. What?"
Yeah, so, the town accountant got a stipend for doing the IT work. When he left, well - I had made a website for a town years prior, was working a school helping them keep the computers running, so "why not Pat?" (I was still in high school as it were)
Yeah, so, the town accountant got a stipend for doing the IT work. When he left, well - I had made a website for a town years prior, was working a school helping them keep the computers running, so "why not Pat?" (I was still in high school as it were)
aside: the website thing was funny, because it was ~new~ for kids to make webpages back then. It was definitely a story in the local paper/tv news (I had to present to the town selectmen!), and in some classrooms: https://twitter.com/patcable/status/1287153053469155331
Anyways, the town had ~2 months to spend some town meeting money or else it'd disappear. I refreshed all of the machines, people were happy, so I kept the contract. I'd help folks out with a variety of tech issues every week. There was no shortage of things to do.
I was treated like an SME, which felt good at that age (and that could be a whole other thread). At $20/hour, I was certainly the most affordable one. I doubled the price after I graduated high school. It helped me pay rent in college. I left when I got my first full time job.
"OK, cool story Pat, what's your point?"
I guess all this to say: keep in mind a lot of municipalities don't have the same access to tech experience (how to evaluate a system?), time (even with school, heh) or dollars ($35k?!).
I guess all this to say: keep in mind a lot of municipalities don't have the same access to tech experience (how to evaluate a system?), time (even with school, heh) or dollars ($35k?!).
Municipalities often end up having to trust orgs that don't always have aligned incentives. This is extremely true across government procurement at all levels, but especially so at the town, city, and local education level. Often not big enough to push for changes to COTS systems
Maybe this event makes it all the more visible? Hopeful me is hopeful, but also the world is... extremely the world many days.
If you're not sure what I'm tweeting about, here you go: https://www.cyberscoop.com/florida-hacker-water-plant-sodium-hydroxide/
