heather
@hbillings.bsky.social
Former director of engineering for 18F. Friendly curmudgeon, authoritative walker, front-end tinkerer.
I haven't worked on a Django app in 8 years. I just opened a terminal and `python manage.py runserver` came flying off my fingers. Hi, my old friend. Maybe people management hasn't totally ruined me.
(Now I'm going to bitch about why on earth `python` is still aliased to Python2 on Mac, tyvm)
(Now I'm going to bitch about why on earth `python` is still aliased to Python2 on Mac, tyvm)
June 24, 2025 at 3:44 PM
I haven't worked on a Django app in 8 years. I just opened a terminal and `python manage.py runserver` came flying off my fingers. Hi, my old friend. Maybe people management hasn't totally ruined me.
(Now I'm going to bitch about why on earth `python` is still aliased to Python2 on Mac, tyvm)
(Now I'm going to bitch about why on earth `python` is still aliased to Python2 on Mac, tyvm)
Reposted by heather
"Direct File showed what real government efficiency is—identifying a need and delivering for people in a way that actually makes their lives better.” — @merici.bsky.social
Direct File is 'beloved by its users,' internal IRS report says
The IRS is reportedly ending the Direct File, but a report obtained via the Freedom of Information Act says that 94% of users rated their experience as “excellent” or “above average.”
www.nextgov.com
June 16, 2025 at 5:44 PM
"Direct File showed what real government efficiency is—identifying a need and delivering for people in a way that actually makes their lives better.” — @merici.bsky.social
Reposted by heather
I asked for dark mode as in “less eye strain” not “the collapse of shared reality and permanent democratic nightfall” just to be clear
May 27, 2025 at 9:49 PM
I asked for dark mode as in “less eye strain” not “the collapse of shared reality and permanent democratic nightfall” just to be clear
Reposted by heather
We have some news to share with you. 🥄
Today we took legal action to challenge our termination, filing an appeal with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. We did this because we believe the elimination of 18F violated safeguards that exist to protect a nonpartisan civil service.
Today we took legal action to challenge our termination, filing an appeal with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. We did this because we believe the elimination of 18F violated safeguards that exist to protect a nonpartisan civil service.
18F files legal challenge
A statement about 18F’s appeal filed with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board.
18f.org
May 28, 2025 at 7:25 PM
We have some news to share with you. 🥄
Today we took legal action to challenge our termination, filing an appeal with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. We did this because we believe the elimination of 18F violated safeguards that exist to protect a nonpartisan civil service.
Today we took legal action to challenge our termination, filing an appeal with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. We did this because we believe the elimination of 18F violated safeguards that exist to protect a nonpartisan civil service.
What does "working transparently" mean, actually? Hint: It's not what DOGE is doing. Here's how 18F infused an ethos of transparency -- and accountability -- into everything we did. 18f.org/working-in-t...
Working in the open
For over 11 years, 18F has been proudly serving the American people to make government technology work better. We are non-partisan civil servants. 18F has worked on hundreds of projects, all designed ...
18f.org
March 31, 2025 at 11:00 PM
What does "working transparently" mean, actually? Hint: It's not what DOGE is doing. Here's how 18F infused an ethos of transparency -- and accountability -- into everything we did. 18f.org/working-in-t...
Resume-writing is bad enough, but when you're a generalist and a manager, you end up with:
- owned a thing nobody else wanted
- paired with some folks but they didn't really need me
- made shit suck less in some unquantifiable way
- [mumbles in performance management]
hire me I guess?
- owned a thing nobody else wanted
- paired with some folks but they didn't really need me
- made shit suck less in some unquantifiable way
- [mumbles in performance management]
hire me I guess?
March 25, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Resume-writing is bad enough, but when you're a generalist and a manager, you end up with:
- owned a thing nobody else wanted
- paired with some folks but they didn't really need me
- made shit suck less in some unquantifiable way
- [mumbles in performance management]
hire me I guess?
- owned a thing nobody else wanted
- paired with some folks but they didn't really need me
- made shit suck less in some unquantifiable way
- [mumbles in performance management]
hire me I guess?
I spent the last 9 years of my life in >7 different jobs with 18F. I worked on high-publicity items you've seen in the news and low-profile tools that made life for someone in a back office tolerable.
Pulling off this last IRL is my proudest achievement. I'll miss you all so very, very much. 🥄
Pulling off this last IRL is my proudest achievement. I'll miss you all so very, very much. 🥄
Really metered my posting about work, but here's a far more recent pic of the last @team18f.bsky.social IRL from September 2023 in DC. This never made the blog, but was a great time.
I was getting bugged only seeing pre-2016 photos of the team & wanted to amplify more of the current faces.
I was getting bugged only seeing pre-2016 photos of the team & wanted to amplify more of the current faces.
March 4, 2025 at 5:41 PM
I spent the last 9 years of my life in >7 different jobs with 18F. I worked on high-publicity items you've seen in the news and low-profile tools that made life for someone in a back office tolerable.
Pulling off this last IRL is my proudest achievement. I'll miss you all so very, very much. 🥄
Pulling off this last IRL is my proudest achievement. I'll miss you all so very, very much. 🥄