People who enjoy their jobs

[Anonymous]

I'm an IT specialist who works at NASA (at the place that cannot be named on DCUM). I have been here well over 20 years and intend to retire from here. There is a reason that it is always voted the best agency to work for in the federal government. Even when I was in an organization that wasn't support space science of flight missions, it's still an extremely interesting place to work. I love supporting the missions here, I love the people I work with, and most others do, too. I know many people who have been here 30+.

I had been in my career for a few years in a non-lead position when I saw a job posting about an opening for a lead position for my field. I applied and took that job. And have been here ever since. I've changed roles several times, but I still love it here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in market research and love my job! I enjoy research, feel good about the products I'm supporting, and like most of the teams I support. There's the occasional work-place annoyance but I just remind myself that there's a reason they pay me - to have a good attitude and put up with the 5% I could do without.

Ditto. In MR in a media organization.

[Anonymous]

Criminal prosecutor. I love my job so much. I'm constantly entertained and I have so many stories I could write a book. I do the same kinds of crimes, usually, but I love the different kind of people you come into contact with, and although I can be pretty tough I also love hearing the success stories of people who've been on the wrong side of the law.

It doesn't pay much, but the work in interesting, and my co-workers mostly share my same love for the job so we are close-knit and I really have a feeling like we all have each other's backs, which is really great.

[Anonymous]

Development/marketing at big university - love my job. In my 50s now, and i've been doing this for 25 years. Spouse is a professor here - 90% research. Also loves his job (higher stress than mine) We are " high level white collar professionals" who don't hate our jobs!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an IT specialist who works at NASA (at the place that cannot be named on DCUM). I have been here well over 20 years and intend to retire from here. There is a reason that it is always voted the best agency to work for in the federal government. Even when I was in an organization that wasn't support space science of flight missions, it's still an extremely interesting place to work. I love supporting the missions here, I love the people I work with, and most others do, too. I know many people who have been here 30+.

I had been in my career for a few years in a non-lead position when I saw a job posting about an opening for a lead position for my field. I applied and took that job. And have been here ever since. I've changed roles several times, but I still love it here.

Great Post.

Serious question.

How many H1Bs are employed in your IT organization? from TCS, Wipro, Cognizant, Hexaware, Infosys or the like?

is the group diverse or largely Indian?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an IT specialist who works at NASA (at the place that cannot be named on DCUM). I have been here well over 20 years and intend to retire from here. There is a reason that it is always voted the best agency to work for in the federal government. Even when I was in an organization that wasn't support space science of flight missions, it's still an extremely interesting place to work. I love supporting the missions here, I love the people I work with, and most others do, too. I know many people who have been here 30+.

I had been in my career for a few years in a non-lead position when I saw a job posting about an opening for a lead position for my field. I applied and took that job. And have been here ever since. I've changed roles several times, but I still love it here.

Great Post.

Serious question.

How many H1Bs are employed in your IT organization? from TCS, Wipro, Cognizant, Hexaware, Infosys or the like?

is the group diverse or largely Indian?

Virtually none. To work here, you need to have access to a number of Agency proprietary information. It's not impossible, but it's difficult for non-residents to get access to center. Full-time employees need to be legal residents or citizens to get badged to work on-center. H1Bs can work off-center, but will have to do so without agency badged credentials which limits them from access to certain types and classes of information. Once you are in that situation, it limits the number of contracts and positions you can hold. H1Bs can get temporary access, such as visiting scientists, engineers, etc. Typically access is for no more than 90 or 180 days and they need to do a lot to renew for longer. In nearly 25 years, I've rarely seen non-residents have access for longer than 180 days. Non-residents are identified by a red box or similar on their badge so that employees can identify them and ensure that any proprietary or classified information that we have access to is not exposed or visible when the non-resident is in the office space. I have never seen a job for this agency posted that did not require citizenship or permanent residency status to fill. There are many contractors that contract here, but I've never seen any of the ones you mentioned working here.

[Anonymous]

I work for a DC agency, supporting a mission about which I care deeply. I love what I do because (1) it challenges me in new and different ways every day, (2) I'm pretty good at meeting that challenge, (3) I respect the people I work with and feel they also care deeply about our mission, and (4) I've been fortunate to advance in the organization and take on new challenges when the work has gotten stale.

To be clear, there is a TON of BS involved, but somehow the rest balances it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an IT specialist who works at NASA (at the place that cannot be named on DCUM). I have been here well over 20 years and intend to retire from here. There is a reason that it is always voted the best agency to work for in the federal government. Even when I was in an organization that wasn't support space science of flight missions, it's still an extremely interesting place to work. I love supporting the missions here, I love the people I work with, and most others do, too. I know many people who have been here 30+.

I had been in my career for a few years in a non-lead position when I saw a job posting about an opening for a lead position for my field. I applied and took that job. And have been here ever since. I've changed roles several times, but I still love it here.

Great Post.

Serious question.

How many H1Bs are employed in your IT organization? from TCS, Wipro, Cognizant, Hexaware, Infosys or the like?

is the group diverse or largely Indian?

Virtually none. To work here, you need to have access to a number of Agency proprietary information. It's not impossible, but it's difficult for non-residents to get access to center. Full-time employees need to be legal residents or citizens to get badged to work on-center. H1Bs can work off-center, but will have to do so without agency badged credentials which limits them from access to certain types and classes of information. Once you are in that situation, it limits the number of contracts and positions you can hold. H1Bs can get temporary access, such as visiting scientists, engineers, etc. Typically access is for no more than 90 or 180 days and they need to do a lot to renew for longer. In nearly 25 years, I've rarely seen non-residents have access for longer than 180 days. Non-residents are identified by a red box or similar on their badge so that employees can identify them and ensure that any proprietary or classified information that we have access to is not exposed or visible when the non-resident is in the office space. I have never seen a job for this agency posted that did not require citizenship or permanent residency status to fill. There are many contractors that contract here, but I've never seen any of the ones you mentioned working here.

Wow. Almost sounds like work used to be in 80s. Stable with good coworkers. Sounds like paradise compared to the hell I go to on a daily basis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an IT specialist who works at NASA (at the place that cannot be named on DCUM). I have been here well over 20 years and intend to retire from here. There is a reason that it is always voted the best agency to work for in the federal government. Even when I was in an organization that wasn't support space science of flight missions, it's still an extremely interesting place to work. I love supporting the missions here, I love the people I work with, and most others do, too. I know many people who have been here 30+.

I had been in my career for a few years in a non-lead position when I saw a job posting about an opening for a lead position for my field. I applied and took that job. And have been here ever since. I've changed roles several times, but I still love it here.

Great Post.

Serious question.

How many H1Bs are employed in your IT organization? from TCS, Wipro, Cognizant, Hexaware, Infosys or the like?

is the group diverse or largely Indian?

Virtually none. To work here, you need to have access to a number of Agency proprietary information. It's not impossible, but it's difficult for non-residents to get access to center. Full-time employees need to be legal residents or citizens to get badged to work on-center. H1Bs can work off-center, but will have to do so without agency badged credentials which limits them from access to certain types and classes of information. Once you are in that situation, it limits the number of contracts and positions you can hold. H1Bs can get temporary access, such as visiting scientists, engineers, etc. Typically access is for no more than 90 or 180 days and they need to do a lot to renew for longer. In nearly 25 years, I've rarely seen non-residents have access for longer than 180 days. Non-residents are identified by a red box or similar on their badge so that employees can identify them and ensure that any proprietary or classified information that we have access to is not exposed or visible when the non-resident is in the office space. I have never seen a job for this agency posted that did not require citizenship or permanent residency status to fill. There are many contractors that contract here, but I've never seen any of the ones you mentioned working here.

When people get fired after working there for 10 years, how many people do they fire each year? Do they get walked out the same day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an IT specialist who works at NASA (at the place that cannot be named on DCUM). I have been here well over 20 years and intend to retire from here. There is a reason that it is always voted the best agency to work for in the federal government. Even when I was in an organization that wasn't support space science of flight missions, it's still an extremely interesting place to work. I love supporting the missions here, I love the people I work with, and most others do, too. I know many people who have been here 30+.

I had been in my career for a few years in a non-lead position when I saw a job posting about an opening for a lead position for my field. I applied and took that job. And have been here ever since. I've changed roles several times, but I still love it here.

Great Post.

Serious question.

How many H1Bs are employed in your IT organization? from TCS, Wipro, Cognizant, Hexaware, Infosys or the like?

is the group diverse or largely Indian?

Virtually none. To work here, you need to have access to a number of Agency proprietary information. It's not impossible, but it's difficult for non-residents to get access to center. Full-time employees need to be legal residents or citizens to get badged to work on-center. H1Bs can work off-center, but will have to do so without agency badged credentials which limits them from access to certain types and classes of information. Once you are in that situation, it limits the number of contracts and positions you can hold. H1Bs can get temporary access, such as visiting scientists, engineers, etc. Typically access is for no more than 90 or 180 days and they need to do a lot to renew for longer. In nearly 25 years, I've rarely seen non-residents have access for longer than 180 days. Non-residents are identified by a red box or similar on their badge so that employees can identify them and ensure that any proprietary or classified information that we have access to is not exposed or visible when the non-resident is in the office space. I have never seen a job for this agency posted that did not require citizenship or permanent residency status to fill. There are many contractors that contract here, but I've never seen any of the ones you mentioned working here.

Wow. Almost sounds like work used to be in 80s. Stable with good coworkers. Sounds like paradise compared to the hell I go to on a daily basis

Yes. I'd say that more than 90% of the employees here are good co-workers. There are a handful of poor coworkers (both civil service and contractors). Even the contractors can be difficult to lay off as many of the contract companies are trying to be cautious and not open themselves up to lawsuits, but eventually the weaker co-workers get weeded out.

I recently visited the division I worked in 20 years ago and probably 60% of the staff were the same. The guy who took over my job in 1996, is still working in that position. There are many, many people here who have been here longer than I have (I will be celebrating my 25th anniversary in a few months). I remember one co-worker who left the agency to go to a private company with a significant pay raise. After about 2 years, he realized that he hated the work environment, hated the job, and the grind. Even though the hours were only slightly longer, the environment was toxic compared to NASA. He spent the next 6 years trying to get back and finally found a job back here. He has been back about 12 years now and like me, he plans to stay here to retire (we're both around 50).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an IT specialist who works at NASA (at the place that cannot be named on DCUM). I have been here well over 20 years and intend to retire from here. There is a reason that it is always voted the best agency to work for in the federal government. Even when I was in an organization that wasn't support space science of flight missions, it's still an extremely interesting place to work. I love supporting the missions here, I love the people I work with, and most others do, too. I know many people who have been here 30+.

I had been in my career for a few years in a non-lead position when I saw a job posting about an opening for a lead position for my field. I applied and took that job. And have been here ever since. I've changed roles several times, but I still love it here.

Great Post.

Serious question.

How many H1Bs are employed in your IT organization? from TCS, Wipro, Cognizant, Hexaware, Infosys or the like?

is the group diverse or largely Indian?

Virtually none. To work here, you need to have access to a number of Agency proprietary information. It's not impossible, but it's difficult for non-residents to get access to center. Full-time employees need to be legal residents or citizens to get badged to work on-center. H1Bs can work off-center, but will have to do so without agency badged credentials which limits them from access to certain types and classes of information. Once you are in that situation, it limits the number of contracts and positions you can hold. H1Bs can get temporary access, such as visiting scientists, engineers, etc. Typically access is for no more than 90 or 180 days and they need to do a lot to renew for longer. In nearly 25 years, I've rarely seen non-residents have access for longer than 180 days. Non-residents are identified by a red box or similar on their badge so that employees can identify them and ensure that any proprietary or classified information that we have access to is not exposed or visible when the non-resident is in the office space. I have never seen a job for this agency posted that did not require citizenship or permanent residency status to fill. There are many contractors that contract here, but I've never seen any of the ones you mentioned working here.

When people get fired after working there for 10 years, how many people do they fire each year? Do they get walked out the same day?

Each case is different. Most people do not get walked out. Most people are fired, their bosses come to their office and tell them, and they have the rest of the day to get their things in order, pack up their stuff and they make an appointment with the manager who comes back and gets their badge from them at the end of the day.

I had a case last year (contractor) where the person was called to our contract companies off-center office for a meeting with the manager. He went out, they fired him and took his badge right away. He had to call one of his co-workers to pack up his things and meet him at the front gate to hand over his belongings. This was unusual because this person had been a significant problem, had had poor performance reviews, did not improve and they were fearful that he might be vindictive. Since he was a system administrator and had elevated privileges for servers and local systems, the contract company really felt it was prudent to be extra cautious.

I know a woman who had the same situation (poor performance reviews, no noticeable improvements, coworker conflicts) and she was also called to the off-site offices, had the meeting and was told that she had two hours to clear out. She went back to her desk, cleaned up, packed her things and walked her badge down to her supervisor, turned it in and left center. She was a regular user with no extensive system or physical access privileges.

I have not seen any significant layoffs for about 10 years now. Most times, the agency adjusts the staffing by making changes to the contract and there is sufficient warning that the contractor can try to work with staff to find them alternate contrats or at least alert them to look for other positions. There are always a handful of people who don't find a landing spot before the layoffs actually happen, but mostly its a smooth transition.

[Anonymous]

Attorney, in-house.

[Anonymous]

I'm a chef. I went to culinary school after graduating medical school. I love what I do, and never wonder about the road not taken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a chef. I went to culinary school after graduating medical school. I love what I do, and never wonder about the road not taken.

Ooh...did you have debt to pay off?

[Anonymous]

Both spouse and I are in helping professions. I spent several years in a Ph.D. program, followed by two different postdocs on both coasts. I knew I'd never be highly paid, but I like that my job entails thinking about interesting problems that affect real people and how to solve them. Although I'm licensed and can see patients with mental health concerns, I currently work in mental health research. I like it because it is interesting and important work, given that 50% of Americans will have a mental health disorder in their lifetimes.

Spouse is a physician and works in a pediatric specialty setting. Can be grueling at times, but also finds it to be rewarding work, since loves kids and likes the challenge of figuring out a diagnosis and successfully treating them, especially complex patients.