You don't see a job posting like this one every day. And maybe you even missed it, which could have easily happened unless you live and breathe Web source code — which, of course, some people do.
Those are the folks the government hopes will apply — by July 13 — to be a fellow for two years with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington, D.C., specializing in various aspects of Web development.
Oh, the positions for the CFPB Design+Technology Fellowship have been advertised using the usual means, including on the agency's website:
Join us, and you will be given an opportunity to help create a dream technology environment for a new organization. In the process, you'll improve the lives of millions of Americans. Maybe you're just out of college and you are looking to sharpen your skills. Or maybe you want a break from building widgets and want to spend some time making things that really matter.
The bureau itself was created as a result of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, with a mission that includes enforcing federal consumer financial protection laws, taking consumer complaints, promoting financial education and monitoring financial markets for "new risks to consumers."
You can see the source code/job ad yourself. Here's one way: Go to this CFPB Web page, and then right-click your mouse on the page, and select the "View source" option in Internet Explorer and Safari, or "View page source" with Firefox or Chrome.
Chris Willey, the bureau's chief information officer, told msnbc.com via email that "as a 21st century agency, we need to use 21st century tools to serve the American public."
In addition to "the traditional federal government hiring method — posting the fellows program on the USAJobs website — we are using social media, listservs, and blogs to reach out to technology professionals to tell them about the fellows program," Willey said.
"Because source code is literally a second language to Web developers, we thought it would be both useful and fun to embed an ad in our source code as well."
— Via The Atlantic
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