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Defense Digital Service

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Defense Digital Service Reviews

2.1

27% would recommend to a friend

(21 total reviews)

27% positive business outlook

Defense Digital Service has an employee rating of 2.1 out of 5 stars, based on 21 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Defense Digital Service employee rating is 42% below average for employers within the Government and public administration industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

21 reviews
1.0
28 May 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Lots of super nice, excellent, and talented team members (there's a pattern in these reviews).

Cons

I can't reiterate the previous reviews enough. Leadership is absolutely as described, near useless and very incompetent. If you like working in an environment where you might see arbitrary and capricious firings, movement of responsibility, or restriction from access to information based on a shallow sighted assessment of performance or a political disagreement; this is the place for you. There are barely any actual motivations behind projects, and the subtle ones that exist, they usually are for the wrong reasons. DDS is supposed to help solve these problems in the department, not create more of them! This will likely not be the last review like this, we mean it when we say to stay away. Leadership is exceptionally toxic and this is not the environment anyone should work in, let alone what should be a team of elite engineers and bureaucracy hackers.

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Defense Digital Service Response
6y
Thank you for your feedback on the DDS leadership. Sorry to hear your engagements with leadership were not positive. Each review is extremely helpful in making the necessary adjustments for the current and future leaders for the team. We wish you success in your future endeavors.
1.0
22 May 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Of the small number of people who aren’t career bureaucrats hiding on the team, there is some truly bright and energetic talent

Cons

Said talent is enticed to join the team, manipulated, used for all possible PR benefit, marginalized, and cast aside (in that order) on a routine basis. Agree 100% with the reviewer on this site who mentioned leadership not listening to experts. Both the current director and deputy director are utterly out of their depth and don’t seem to have ever been in charge of any size team in the past. They both possess little-to-no technical ability and frequently change their mind about the simplest decisions. Constant chasing of distracting ideas brought up in random meetings. No vision for the organization. And absolutely zero trust in or empowerment of members of the team. What used to be a flat team (albeit not always very organized) under previous leadership had become the same inefficient, bureaucratic organization found everywhere else in the department—only worse, it’s pretending not to be. Projects are randomly picked without using a solid vision for what we’re trying to accomplish as an organization or any realistic transition plan. All good projects are currently dead. The remaining ones Are trumpeted to any senior leader who will listen seemingly in an attempt to get them to put our self-graded assignment on their fridge at home. Do not come to DDS until there is a new director and deputy director. And if the current regime picks the incoming leadership team, still don’t come. Zero stars if I could, stay away. Or if you want to screw off all day and have no work to show for years of your life while being gaslighted or condescended to the entire time, this is the place for you. Some of the (dead weight) team members seem to love it.

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Defense Digital Service Response
6y
We are sorry to hear your DDS experience and your engagement with leadership were not positive. Every organization has its unique challenges when there is a change in leadership and DDS is not exempt from those growing pains. Since the transition of leadership, the DDS team has grown significantly, not only in people but also in projects/portfolios. As we continue to grow in both areas we will take this feedback into considerations to make our workforce stronger. We wish you success throughout your career.
1.0
29 May 2020

Incompetent leadership with a toxic culture

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Compensation is good for inexperienced individuals since GS15 is guaranteed.

Cons

DDS leadership thinks and acts like they're doing amazing work, but unfortunately they're just another stereotypical government program that puts out subpar products in a very slow timeframe. DDS is incredibly PM heavy, some projects have 3 PMs but 2 engineers... Leadership has a very tight knit inner circle of yes men, and are not interested in hiring anybody who is willing to provide criticism. VERY high turnover rate, don't expect to be here for very long, especially if you're not interested in just coasting by.

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Defense Digital Service Response
6y
Sorry to hear your experience with DDS was not pleasant. As a current employee, I strongly encourage you to provide your concerns to the personnel authorized to investigate and help navigate a better work environment. DDS was established for each team member to serve under a special appointment of a two-year term. Since its existence, the average DDS team member has remained on the team for 2.5 years. Your feedback will be of great use to continue building better teams and guiding leadership in areas for improvement. Thank you for your feedback.
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Glassdoor has 21 Defense Digital Service reviews submitted anonymously by Defense Digital Service employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Defense Digital Service is right for you.