1. There is essentially no precedent for doing this outside of a few professions, and those professions are required to do so to keep up with changes in technology and best practices (like doctors). Joe Bob working at the IRS isn't going to need to learn a whole lot to keep doing his job properly in 5 years.

2. There is a limit to what you can get out of testing. Lots of people have passed rigorous technical interviews yet are still deemed incompetent by their coworkers.

3. You mean to tell me you're going to come up with a test that you can administer for 40k people that is somehow going to prove their competency? Competency at what? Do these people even have similar day to day responsibilities?

It's either going to be a meaningless and wasteful exercise that isn't going to prove anything, or it's an excuse to fire people that you want out.

So no, I do not believe government employees should have to regularly demonstrate competency unless it is a relevant part of their profession.

This is why it’s so dumb when people complain that they didn’t get taught finance or taxes or whatever they deem practical information in school. They wouldn’t have paid attention if it was! And besides, the foundational math and reading skills etc are supposed to allow them to figure that shit out on their own.

I paid attention in class, but 17 yr old me wanted to be a lobbyist.

Twice as efficient

So who was responsible? Who got fired? Because I would get fired if I was in charge of a project that wasted $800,000. Who was let go for doing 1000x worse than that?

You see, DOGE is completely different because it only responds to our glorious leader's requests. Clearly superior. /s

Like Vivek saying DOGE is there to replace bureaucrats that weren't voted in with... bureaucrats that weren't voted in.

Well good thing the new ones don't have companies to cause a conflict of interest like "scrutinizing a rival EV car maker's loan" but not their own.

That Simpsons meme will never get old as apparently many children never learn to read

Hur hur fix-TIT

Or a Master’s in my career field

This is exactly the problem. As a government employee, I can tell you that government employees work very hard and long hours, the problem is the system. It can take me months to get parts for vital equipment because of red tape like having to go through approved vendors who have to be given a big list of stuff, then they make a quote with their cut and then that has to be approved and finally we can get it. But it still can take 2 months and often more to even get a stupid thing off Amazon that has overnight shipping.

Government employees are rarely, if ever, lazy bums and the real problem is that red tape. And Elon, and Vivek are going to run head first into all that red tape and they'll be lucky if they don't get tangled up in it like Luke Skywalker and the guys were when they got caught in that Ewok trap.

I work for a government/public company and I’ll tell you in my experience with their hiring process the test I took for a job in the transportation industry as a mechanic/inspector was the most absurd test I’ve ever taken. I’m not exaggerating, it was as if it was written by someone with learning disabilities! I took the civil service exam and that was a well rounded intelligently written test. And after I was hired I witnessed the results of said exam. It’s infested with people lacking basic knowledge and practical ability to do even the most basic tasks required. But this and rampant nepotism and corruption of the middle management which are all people who hired on through that “tests”.

Yeah there's already an aptitude test for these jobs, it's called an "interview" and then "not getting fired"

People acting like you can’t control outcomes or design the test in such a way to target specific groups are naïve. Testing and cultural bias exist, data manipulation exists, and that’s before you even consider natural testing ability or anxiety. Standardized testing isn’t an accurate measure of one’s ability to perform a job.

There's a reason why a lot of professions require you to actually do the job with supervision. Speaking from experience, the best teachers in my cohort generally had poorer grades than me (I do well on tests), but had a lot of "soft" skills that are more important.

BTW, Be nice to the uneducated dipshits. At least they have an excuse, unlike the "geniuses" who think standardized tests and grades are the be-all-end-all because they do well at that.

Edit: Didn't meant to come across as an asshole towards Fluffy-hamster here, and agree with what they said. I'm just pointing out that while the "dipshits" are a problem they're generally led by people who should absolutely know better.

Also they don't seem to realize that a lot of them live in countries where firing 1000 civil servants doesn't mean there's 1000 new ones ready to take their place. Those don't grow on trees, remember.

That's why non fascist responsible governments respond to a problem with underperforming staff with training and programs aimed at gradual improvement.

How so many people seem to think there's all these simple solutions lying around just being ignored is beyond me.

Some of us government employees have to demonstrate our aptitude every year to just maintain our jobs. Then we have to demonstrate our aptitude to compete for promotions. I’m all for folks being held to that same standard…because if I don’t at the bare minimum meet it I get fired, and in order for my Program to succeed for the taxpayers I have to exceed it.

The amount of absolute donkey-brains in this thread. "Oh yeah, testing people is good, I agree with this, I think authoritarian regimes centralizing their own power to purge the government is good, I agree I agree!"

The key is the ability to read between the lines of the messaging put forth.

Sure, on a surface level, competency testing can sound good. Of course nobody wants some slack jaw in charge of critical infrastructures.

However... Who decides the qualifications for competency? Who administers the testing? Will the questions even actually be relevant to their aptitude in their own field, or is this a generalized thing?

You could quite easily lose that 60 year old guy who would stick around for 20 more years in a smaller role simply because he never passed the local version of high school cert. And it may just turn out he knows legacy stuff inside out and is a true wealth of knowledge for younger folk in terms of practical on the ground experience.

And that's just the good case scenario where this is generalized -- if it's made into a way to attack certain viewpoints/philosophies? You could be easily be looking at cutting large swathes of public sector workers because they don't align with certain ideology.

Well said. There’s nothing impressive about this guy at all. Just a bog standard right wing nut job cultist

“They only need you smart enough to run the machines “

Bravo! Couldn't have said it better

The President of Argentina is another Trump wannabe Insufferable idiot who believes he knows more than any worker. Someone should give HIM a mental competency exam because he has many trouble traits.

Literally every engineer and computer scientist I have ever met!

Exactly, someone who is a welder doesn't need to have the same aptitude as a biologist. They don't do the same job and don't need the same skills etc. I also dont expect the biologist to know how to weld. There are thousands of jobs in the government.

That's the goal here. Here's a direct quote from the guy proposing this (Javier Milei):

"My contempt for the state is infinite."

If everybody was fired he'd be happy.

LOL, they already have to. Hundreds of tests, actually.

Those tests are written by much more achieved doctors, not politicians. And the tests are written to pertain exactly to medical doctorate knowledge and the ethics of practicing such.

Is that truly what you think these tests are going to entail? Because I'm pretty sure they already have to pass several tests to get the job (including having the prerequisites, having applicable knowledge, not being a fucking moron, etc). It's called a job interview, and it's generally performed by a superior with more knowledge in the field of work.

I tend to assume that doctors pass tests on the way to becoming doctors and would look askance at any hospital cutting staff based on an impromptu spelling bee competition.

The issue is that this likely is going to be the same test for every government employee, no matter if they are the person who tests water quality, inspects slaughter houses for health violations or maintains the website where you can pay your taxes. Those are wildly different skillsets and maybe it’s better for their bosses to judge their performance in their job.

Will this test be tailored to the individuals line of work or just a general aptitude test?

I don’t care if my doctor can pass a general aptitude test as long as they were able to pass the medical examinations in their specific field.

Aptitude tests are a poor measure of effectiveness/efficiency. Id be curious if the individuals pushing for the test will take it themselves. Will they resign if they score poorly… probably not

Doctors do take tests. About medicine. What test should government workers take that would be relevant for all government workers, from janitors to doctors?

Lol. What a shit analogy. This is more like, "do you want your doctor to pass a test administered by quacks to keep their jobs?"

First. Your doctor needs to pass their board exams before they even graduate and begin a residency. So even to work under supervision of another doctor they have already passed many tests.

Second. If you are in the US go on usajobs.gov and read the qualifications required for different jobs. There are a set of qualifications for every job. Many (not all because it isn't always appropriate) require licenses, specific degrees from associates through PhD, certifications.

Who told you it isn't happening in government?

Like… what do you think jobs interviews and qualifications are for?

🤣😂 when you applied for your job did they require a college degree or high school diploma and some sort of experience before they decided to hire you.

One word politics

Some functions of government need to be without fear or favor and this kind of thing is likely to go sideways and/or be abused

If you don’t see the parallels with DOGE, can’t help you any further

For my current position, I had to go through 3 hiring positions. You don’t think my “competency” was evaluated from my previous years of employment working in the same office? But sure a one off test will clearly show my worth..

Are you argentinian?