Current non supervisory GS14. Should I become GS15 supervisor?

[Anonymous]

I like my job and my colleagues. I work 40 to 45 hours a week. I could get a supervisory role in my office. I would be supervising excellent workers. But… I have 19 years left until I retire. I know my staff would change at some point.. I almost make a GS15-1 salary already, and the GS 15 pay scale is capped and the cap creeps down the scale every year. Is it worth the extra work and headaches? If you were in a similar situation, what did you decide?

[Anonymous]

I have chosen to stay a tech 14. I have no interest in writing evals.

[Anonymous]

No lol

[Anonymous]

I did it for a while and then stopped.

I think it comes down to whether you want a different job. If you are feeling bored and stagnated and would like managing people instead of doing SME work then consider it (somewhere on this board someone once did a great series of questions to ask yourself if you'd like managing-- mostly around do you like dealing with people).

If you just want the "prestige" or pay then 1000x no.

[Anonymous]

What kind of work do you do? Do you like the broader mission of your agency and want to try other things or would you expect to stay with your group the remainder of your career?

I am a senior manager at my agency and an attorney. When I took my first supervisory job I would never have imagined all the opportunities I have had. If you are only doing the job for the money then maybe say no, but if you enjoy having more of a leadership role maybe say yes. I started as a GS-13 and am now SES.

I have been here over 25 years and still love lots of things about my job, and I have never regretted becoming a manager.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kind of work do you do? Do you like the broader mission of your agency and want to try other things or would you expect to stay with your group the remainder of your career?

I am a senior manager at my agency and an attorney. When I took my first supervisory job I would never have imagined all the opportunities I have had. If you are only doing the job for the money then maybe say no, but if you enjoy having more of a leadership role maybe say yes. I started as a GS-13 and am now SES.

I have been here over 25 years and still love lots of things about my job, and I have never regretted becoming a manager.

That is interesting. So in your case being a supervisor allowed you to move offices and try other things within your agency you wouldn’t have been able to otherwise?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't do it. Especially if it's just for the money. The best supervisors really want to be leaders in their agencies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kind of work do you do? Do you like the broader mission of your agency and want to try other things or would you expect to stay with your group the remainder of your career?

I am a senior manager at my agency and an attorney. When I took my first supervisory job I would never have imagined all the opportunities I have had. If you are only doing the job for the money then maybe say no, but if you enjoy having more of a leadership role maybe say yes. I started as a GS-13 and am now SES.

I have been here over 25 years and still love lots of things about my job, and I have never regretted becoming a manager.

NP. I'm an attorney too, non-supervisory GS-15. In my experience, very few supervisors or SES I know say that it is worth it. I am glad that you are happy, but you are atypical.

OP, I think it depends on what you want out of life. I am very happy to spend the next 15 years I have until retirement as SME non-supervisory attorney, simply because I am unwilling to sacrifice the time I have with my wife and kids. I love having the flexibility to be a PTA dad, take multiple vacations each year, etc. It is very rare I have to work more than 40 hrs/week, and rarer still when I have to work a weekend. I invest that time in my family.

I know it is difficult to find a non-supervisory GS-15 job, and I feel grateful and blessed. The extra money helps, but if I had to be a supervisor to get it, I would NEVER do it.

[Anonymous]

Non-supervisory, capped 14-10 here and hell no I wouldn’t trade it for a supervisory GS-15. But unlike the OP, my retirement is much sooner (3-5 years).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of work do you do? Do you like the broader mission of your agency and want to try other things or would you expect to stay with your group the remainder of your career?

I am a senior manager at my agency and an attorney. When I took my first supervisory job I would never have imagined all the opportunities I have had. If you are only doing the job for the money then maybe say no, but if you enjoy having more of a leadership role maybe say yes. I started as a GS-13 and am now SES.

I have been here over 25 years and still love lots of things about my job, and I have never regretted becoming a manager.

NP. I'm an attorney too, non-supervisory GS-15. In my experience, very few supervisors or SES I know say that it is worth it. I am glad that you are happy, but you are atypical.

OP, I think it depends on what you want out of life. I am very happy to spend the next 15 years I have until retirement as SME non-supervisory attorney, simply because I am unwilling to sacrifice the time I have with my wife and kids. I love having the flexibility to be a PTA dad, take multiple vacations each year, etc. It is very rare I have to work more than 40 hrs/week, and rarer still when I have to work a weekend. I invest that time in my family.

I know it is difficult to find a non-supervisory GS-15 job, and I feel grateful and blessed. The extra money helps, but if I had to be a supervisor to get it, I would NEVER do it.

wow, this ^ post comes of as quite all-knowing from someone who has never been a supervisor, decides based on some nebulous conversations he may or may not have with supervisors or SES that becoming a supervisor isn't worth it, and that the PP who said that becoming a supervisor has been worth it to them and actually explained why is "atypical." major eyeroll.

OP, you say you have 19 years left at your agency. that is a loooong time. at some point, when someone has been in a non-supervisory role for quite a long time without taking steps to become a supervisor, it gets harder and harder to do so if you change your mind, as you get pigeonholed where you are at. if you think that you may want to be a supervisor at some point, it is better to go for it before you get "stuck."

there are definitely headaches with being a supervisor, but there are some really great things as well. you learn a different set of skills and have to be comfortable with letting go of the details and delegating - otherwise it really is too much to handle. i have only been a federal supervisor for about a year and delegating is the hardest thing for me to learn - but now i'm burned out because i've done too many things myself, so i'm learning how to protect myself and get the job done through delegating to my very competent staff. you have to also be interested in learning how to take more of a birds-eye view of the issues and brief up the highlights rather than the details.

of course there are also personnel issues, but you have to learn where your supporting resources are at and use them (people and policies) for guidance in tricky situations regarding conduct and performance. that is what will get you through.

i have been a fed for a dozen years and decided to become a supervisor because i will likely leave federal service for NGO work and to be more marketable i really needed to get some supervisory experience under my belt - so i had a very specific reason for taking the leap. if i end up not departing federal service, i'm not sure that being a federal supervisor is a long-term thing for me, but in the end i'm glad i did it.

[Anonymous]

I did it on an acting basis and no way. With OT opportunities you can definitely make more as a non-supervisory 14 in my organization. I was also just completely miserable. I was doing 50-60s regularly and closer to 70 or more during end of year and end of quarter. When you're middle management you become the receptacle for everyone's problems and complaints. From below complaining about those above, from above complaining about those below, from the public. It was exhausting. No way I was going to do that for less money.

If there's any way to try it temporarily I would definitely do that first.

[Anonymous]

Cap of Gs-14 and 15 is going to merge soon in the DC area. No point in taking so much extra responsibility

[Anonymous]

I would rather have a side hustle than be a supervisor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kind of work do you do? Do you like the broader mission of your agency and want to try other things or would you expect to stay with your group the remainder of your career?

I am a senior manager at my agency and an attorney. When I took my first supervisory job I would never have imagined all the opportunities I have had. If you are only doing the job for the money then maybe say no, but if you enjoy having more of a leadership role maybe say yes. I started as a GS-13 and am now SES.

I have been here over 25 years and still love lots of things about my job, and I have never regretted becoming a manager.

NP. I'm an attorney too, non-supervisory GS-15. In my experience, very few supervisors or SES I know say that it is worth it. I am glad that you are happy, but you are atypical.

OP, I think it depends on what you want out of life. I am very happy to spend the next 15 years I have until retirement as SME non-supervisory attorney, simply because I am unwilling to sacrifice the time I have with my wife and kids. I love having the flexibility to be a PTA dad, take multiple vacations each year, etc. It is very rare I have to work more than 40 hrs/week, and rarer still when I have to work a weekend. I invest that time in my family.

I know it is difficult to find a non-supervisory GS-15 job, and I feel grateful and blessed. The extra money helps, but if I had to be a supervisor to get it, I would NEVER do it.

wow, this ^ post comes of as quite all-knowing from someone who has never been a supervisor, decides based on some nebulous conversations he may or may not have with supervisors or SES that becoming a supervisor isn't worth it, and that the PP who said that becoming a supervisor has been worth it to them and actually explained why is "atypical." major eyeroll.

OP, you say you have 19 years left at your agency. that is a loooong time. at some point, when someone has been in a non-supervisory role for quite a long time without taking steps to become a supervisor, it gets harder and harder to do so if you change your mind, as you get pigeonholed where you are at. if you think that you may want to be a supervisor at some point, it is better to go for it before you get "stuck."

there are definitely headaches with being a supervisor, but there are some really great things as well. you learn a different set of skills and have to be comfortable with letting go of the details and delegating - otherwise it really is too much to handle. i have only been a federal supervisor for about a year and delegating is the hardest thing for me to learn - but now i'm burned out because i've done too many things myself, so i'm learning how to protect myself and get the job done through delegating to my very competent staff. you have to also be interested in learning how to take more of a birds-eye view of the issues and brief up the highlights rather than the details.

of course there are also personnel issues, but you have to learn where your supporting resources are at and use them (people and policies) for guidance in tricky situations regarding conduct and performance. that is what will get you through.

i have been a fed for a dozen years and decided to become a supervisor because i will likely leave federal service for NGO work and to be more marketable i really needed to get some supervisory experience under my belt - so i had a very specific reason for taking the leap. if i end up not departing federal service, i'm not sure that being a federal supervisor is a long-term thing for me, but in the end i'm glad i did it.

I'm the PP non-supervisory attorney. Actually I was a supervisor in the military, and in the private sector, before I went to law school. I know how much of a headache it can be. And it doesn't take keen observational skills to see how many supervisors and SES in government are overworked, stressed out, and miserable. The conversations I have had with SES about whether their jobs were worth it were more than just "nebulous". What seems more "nebulous" to me is your assumption that you will be more "marketable" for NGO work (whatever you think that means). Good luck to you, I hope it works out for you. As I said before, it all comes down to what kind of life you want - and if you are a parent, what kind of parent you think you should be.

[Anonymous]

The only reason to advance to GS15/SES is because you are strategizing for an external private exit where that added experience will bolster you chances of being hired.