Tell Your Story: GS-15s Considering Quiting their Federal Government Jobs

[Anonymous]

Has the pandemic made things worse? Are the constant CRs killing your long-range plans. How about the new hybrid non-work environment? What's your story? The Washington Post, or GovExec should run a story or do a survey on this topic.

[Anonymous]

I know none.

- works in an office with 220 non sup GS-15s

[Anonymous]

retirement counts too?

[Anonymous]

I'm considering finding a different Government job. I'm at DOJ and exhausted by the hours.

[Anonymous]

I left because I topped out, and with 15 years left to work, it didn't make sense with what I could earn in the private sector to continue to sit and never make any more money aside from COLA. I wasn't interested in SES life.

[Anonymous]

I’ll likely retire pretty young - 58, 59. It’s stressful and the pay cap is just really demoralizing. That combined with insufficient staff and inadequate IT and personnel issues….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I left because I topped out, and with 15 years left to work, it didn't make sense with what I could earn in the private sector to continue to sit and never make any more money aside from COLA. I wasn't interested in SES life.

This is exactly my story. Very glad I made the move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm considering finding a different Government job. I'm at DOJ and exhausted by the hours.

Ditto.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left because I topped out, and with 15 years left to work, it didn't make sense with what I could earn in the private sector to continue to sit and never make any more money aside from COLA. I wasn't interested in SES life.

This is exactly my story. Very glad I made the move.

That's surprising, you must be an attorney and got your GS15 in your 30s? Most GS15 are well into their 40s or 50s (though I guess you left when you were 45?). With ageism what jobs can you lateral to AND make more money at? I've tried to go private for almost a decade, but after 40 and a decade in the gov, the options have been limited and not worth changing (lateral pay for more demanding jobs and zero career progression discussed)

[Anonymous]

I was a GS-15/10 with cyberpay. $220k is certainly good money, but it was far from my earning potential. I might have been okay to continue at that earning level indefinitely except for:

1) A pretty painful work environment with a lot of focus on empire building rather than mission.
2) A high concentration of low EQ and/or low skill coworkers who we can't get rid of.
3) Inflation cutting into my pay and an increasing delta between my comp and earning potential.
4) No real upward mobility.

At a certain point, it all became too much and I bailed to industry. More than doubled my pay, reduced my stress, improved my career opportunities, and gained all the flexibility and accountability of a well-funded private sector firm. I'm very glad I made the move, but many govies wouldn't be successful in the transition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a GS-15/10 with cyberpay. $220k is certainly good money, but it was far from my earning potential. I might have been okay to continue at that earning level indefinitely except for:

1) A pretty painful work environment with a lot of focus on empire building rather than mission.
2) A high concentration of low EQ and/or low skill coworkers who we can't get rid of.
3) Inflation cutting into my pay and an increasing delta between my comp and earning potential.
4) No real upward mobility.

At a certain point, it all became too much and I bailed to industry. More than doubled my pay, reduced my stress, improved my career opportunities, and gained all the flexibility and accountability of a well-funded private sector firm. I'm very glad I made the move, but many govies wouldn't be successful in the transition.

Yeah cyber is a pretty nice thing and you lucked into timing -- it will likely be oversupplied with labor within a decade with all the people chasing the degree. Its generally not a high barrier to entry like law/medicine, nor has prestige gating with MBAs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a GS-15/10 with cyberpay. $220k is certainly good money, but it was far from my earning potential. I might have been okay to continue at that earning level indefinitely except for:

1) A pretty painful work environment with a lot of focus on empire building rather than mission.
2) A high concentration of low EQ and/or low skill coworkers who we can't get rid of.
3) Inflation cutting into my pay and an increasing delta between my comp and earning potential.
4) No real upward mobility.

At a certain point, it all became too much and I bailed to industry. More than doubled my pay, reduced my stress, improved my career opportunities, and gained all the flexibility and accountability of a well-funded private sector firm. I'm very glad I made the move, but many govies wouldn't be successful in the transition.

Yeah cyber is a pretty nice thing and you lucked into timing -- it will likely be oversupplied with labor within a decade with all the people chasing the degree. Its generally not a high barrier to entry like law/medicine, nor has prestige gating with MBAs.

Well, I certainly agree that I was lucky with timing. I don't agree with your market analysis, though. Cyber is currently short several hundred thousand qualified personnel in a wide variety of positions whereas there seems to be a glut of lawyers. It should be a good market for another 20 years at least, and even then, it's not exactly easy to waltz into the field - technology is always changing and it requires constant re-skilling at both the individual and industry levels. People get weeded out quickly.

[Anonymous]

1 quit and 2 retirements has me doing 4 jobs.

I’m just trying to find a GS-15 that is not 4 jobs.

I have peers that are GS-15 doing a fraction of my work so I know those jobs are out there. I comes down to your boss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a GS-15/10 with cyberpay. $220k is certainly good money, but it was far from my earning potential. I might have been okay to continue at that earning level indefinitely except for:

1) A pretty painful work environment with a lot of focus on empire building rather than mission.
2) A high concentration of low EQ and/or low skill coworkers who we can't get rid of.
3) Inflation cutting into my pay and an increasing delta between my comp and earning potential.
4) No real upward mobility.

At a certain point, it all became too much and I bailed to industry. More than doubled my pay, reduced my stress, improved my career opportunities, and gained all the flexibility and accountability of a well-funded private sector firm. I'm very glad I made the move, but many govies wouldn't be successful in the transition.

Why wouldn't they be successful in transitioning?

[Anonymous]

15 step 10 here. I turned down two offers to stay. one job offered me $193k; and 15k signing bonus. but they also wanted me to sign an agreement to work a minimum of 55 hours a week. I don't mind putting in extra time when I need to. but I'm not going to be forced to do it everyday.