Are Fed jobs really that great?

[Anonymous]

I've been working as an IT contractor for the past 18 years now. Never had an issue finding/securing a job. I was just offered a position with a federal agency, but I would have to take a 22k+ pay cut. Is it worth it? I've been at my current company for over 10 years now and they offer a great benefits package and lots of flexibility so I'm hesitant to leave. Everyone says being a fed is the holy grail but is it really?

[Anonymous]

There are so many different agencies and positions. There is no way to have a blanket statement about all of them. Are you interested in the mission of the office? If you already have great benefits and flexibility, what are you gaining? Job security?

[Anonymous]

If you’ve already got great benefits, maybe not. The main draw of federal jobs is the benefits, especially for retirement. I also had a great work experience with reasonable hours (which was huge coming from BigLaw), but that depends heavily on which office you’re in, as well as the agency.

[Anonymous]

What type of retirement does your job offer?

What grade? Is there chance for promotion?

[Anonymous]

It depends on the agency.

That's a pretty significant pay cut. How are your hours and work/life balance now? Are you interested in more regular hours?

Did they communicate how the GS scale would work for you? I started relatively low but got regular increases that upped my salary pretty quickly. So what's the longer term pay picture?

Like any job, your immediate supervisor makes a big difference too.

[Anonymous]

Congrats on being selected! I tried to get jobs a few times and it always went to someone they already knew. Once I had that happen twice, I decided to stop wasting my time. In college, I worked for the feds and got the job through my parents.

No one mentioned pensions.

My guess is you won’t get one where you are working now. Wouldn’t you get one working for the feds if you stay for ten years?

[Anonymous]

It comes down to four major benefits:

- pension
- health care after retirement
- flexibility
- job security

Only you can evaluate relative benefits of each. For most people, these are tremendious plus but may not for you.

[Anonymous]

Well, if you work a lot of hours now, you could theoretically make up the difference in your income with a side gig.

In IT, higher level jobs are usually for people who are no longer lands-to-keyboard. They are in program management and supervisory roles, although there are of course exceptions for particular SME roles. If you’ve been a Developer, you’ll likely not enjoy the role, but most Developers identify themselves in posts as such and so I assume that’s not your job. If it’s Cybersecurity, you might be doing similar work to what you were as a Contractor, but then additional tasks only the Federal side does at the agency.

The other posters are right. At mid-career it depends on your goals. If you work for the government another 20 years, you could be looking at 20%+ of your salary in perpetuity after retirement for, plus benefits, and that all transitions to a spouse. So it is basically the big benefit. You are likely to work a 40 hour week, but that’s not certain. Many people work more than that, but the key is getting in. Once you have 3 years Federal experience in a career position (particularly in competitive service) you can always re-apply as a Federal Employee to other jobs, even if you leave.

Of course, it would cost you $66K

No one can tell you if you should take the job. They are just jobs. It’s not a holy grail. It just has pluses and minuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It comes down to four major benefits:

- pension
- health care after retirement
- flexibility
- job security

Only you can evaluate relative benefits of each. For most people, these are tremendious plus but may not for you.

The pension is not as good as it used to be. New employees have to contribute 4.4% of their salary towards the pension, while the older employees (Pre-2013) are only contributing 0.8% - for the same benefit! This is a huge pay cut for the newer employees. That said, I am a federal employee and I just like it because of job stability, the amount of annual and sick leave, and reasonable hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It comes down to four major benefits:

- pension
- health care after retirement
- flexibility
- job security

Only you can evaluate relative benefits of each. For most people, these are tremendious plus but may not for you.

The pension is not as good as it used to be. New employees have to contribute 4.4% of their salary towards the pension, while the older employees (Pre-2013) are only contributing 0.8% - for the same benefit! This is a huge pay cut for the newer employees. That said, I am a federal employee and I just like it because of job stability, the amount of annual and sick leave, and reasonable hours.

That's many years ago though. FERS's been around like ~35 years now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It comes down to four major benefits:

- pension
- health care after retirement
- flexibility
- job security

Only you can evaluate relative benefits of each. For most people, these are tremendious plus but may not for you.

The pension is not as good as it used to be. New employees have to contribute 4.4% of their salary towards the pension, while the older employees (Pre-2013) are only contributing 0.8% - for the same benefit! This is a huge pay cut for the newer employees. That said, I am a federal employee and I just like it because of job stability, the amount of annual and sick leave, and reasonable hours.

That's many years ago though. FERS's been around like ~35 years now?

There are two kinds of FERS. New hires contribute more to get the same benefit. Can't recall when that started...much more recently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It comes down to four major benefits:

- pension
- health care after retirement
- flexibility
- job security

Only you can evaluate relative benefits of each. For most people, these are tremendious plus but may not for you.

The pension is not as good as it used to be. New employees have to contribute 4.4% of their salary towards the pension, while the older employees (Pre-2013) are only contributing 0.8% - for the same benefit! This is a huge pay cut for the newer employees. That said, I am a federal employee and I just like it because of job stability, the amount of annual and sick leave, and reasonable hours.

That's many years ago though. FERS's been around like ~35 years now?

There are two kinds of FERS. New hires contribute more to get the same benefit. Can't recall when that started...much more recently.

Got it. I thought you were comparing with FERS vs CSRS. my bad

[Anonymous]

The fed benefits don't make up for the incompetence, bad management and lack of pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fed benefits don't make up for the incompetence, bad management and lack of pay.

if you say so

[Anonymous]

OP, what grade would you be coming in at? Taking a cut from $170k to $148k (GS-15/1, in DC) is a lot different than going from $102k to $90k (GS-12/1).

Also: you say you're a contractor now. Have your work been in the federal government or in the private sector? If you've been working with government IT people for a while, I don't need to warn you about what that's like. If you haven't...well, government IT is a lot different than the private sector, and mostly not for the better.