Going from Fed to Contractor — Any safer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So if I were to pivot from a Fed role to a contractor like SAIC, Leidos, Aerospace, Lockheed, etc — would I be less vulnerable to layoff or more? My spouse things I should make the leap since my agency is not popular with administration, but I think contractors are just a different set of problems.

Nope! I work for one of these companies and we have seen ongoing layoffs and uncertainty with contracts. Nothing is safe or secure anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So if I were to pivot from a Fed role to a contractor like SAIC, Leidos, Aerospace, Lockheed, etc — would I be less vulnerable to layoff or more? My spouse things I should make the leap since my agency is not popular with administration, but I think contractors are just a different set of problems.

Nope! I work for one of these companies and we have seen ongoing layoffs and uncertainty with contracts. Nothing is safe or secure anymore.

What about Palantir?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So if I were to pivot from a Fed role to a contractor like SAIC, Leidos, Aerospace, Lockheed, etc — would I be less vulnerable to layoff or more? My spouse things I should make the leap since my agency is not popular with administration, but I think contractors are just a different set of problems.

This actually made me chuckle. You're definitely vulnerable (more) to layoff. Employment is "at will" and you can and will be let go for any number of reasons with no notice.



--over twenty years with NG and SAIC.

Twenty years at TWO employers seems pretty stable!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So if I were to pivot from a Fed role to a contractor like SAIC, Leidos, Aerospace, Lockheed, etc — would I be less vulnerable to layoff or more? My spouse things I should make the leap since my agency is not popular with administration, but I think contractors are just a different set of problems.

This actually made me chuckle. You're definitely vulnerable (more) to layoff. Employment is "at will" and you can and will be let go for any number of reasons with no notice.



--over twenty years with NG and SAIC.

Twenty years at TWO employers seems pretty stable!!

For me. I'm an exec at one of them. Was just making a point re: credibility. You don't really want to know how the sausage is made...or rather how easily it's fired/laid off. Trust me when I say that you are not safer.

[Anonymous]

hahaha, no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work for one of those companies mentioned.

In this market, you need to be on a contract to be employed. We used to offer long bench time, to give employees time to find a new contract if your contract ended. Not anymore.

If going private, get on a contract with long term funding. However, this doesn’t mean the current government isn’t going to cut funding in the future. This has never happened before this administration (without a reason, like poor performance).

This. There are no more guarantees - we had three long-term contracts that were supposed to have several option years and the client was thrilled with our work, but they were not exercised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work for one of those companies mentioned.

In this market, you need to be on a contract to be employed. We used to offer long bench time, to give employees time to find a new contract if your contract ended. Not anymore.

If going private, get on a contract with long term funding. However, this doesn’t mean the current government isn’t going to cut funding in the future. This has never happened before this administration (without a reason, like poor performance).

This. There are no more guarantees - we had three long-term contracts that were supposed to have several option years and the client was thrilled with our work, but they were not exercised.

Switching from a Federal employee role to a contractor position is often a smart financial move. It's very common to see your effective income increase by 50% to 75% or even more.
You can essentially "self-insuring" for times of unemployment or between contracts—the significantly higher pay means you still come out way ahead financially in the long run.

[Anonymous]

Get a job at Palantir or Anduril, the anointed ones.

[Anonymous]

Everything is about to be privatized get out while getting out is good