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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are cyber making $220? I thought they got a 10% boost. Isn’t that more like $195K?

The vast majority don’t make that salary.

At DHS, your salary can go up to 330K if they really want to hire you. My brother's salary is 300K at DHS; however, he left a 900K salary in the private sector to join DHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know guys. I am still in the system and near retirement. I like the idea of getting ~70k of pension and medical coverage for until the day both of us check out. Looking back, it was worth it for us.

If you're near retirement, you have the low FERS contribution and don't have to face so much salary stagnation in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If someone wanted to better manage government this is a good place to start. I’m self motivated but it’s hard to imagine exceling the same job for 20 more years with only COLAs.

This is me too. What’s the point of working harder and faster? There’s no payoff.

Pride. Service. And you can move up and you can win special awards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you that made the leap, have your hours changed? With elementary school kids, its nice to know I can rely on a 40-hour-a-week schedule. Of course sometimes I work late, but not regularly.

I’m 43 and starting to consider this change. I’ve been a 15 for a decade and the pay stagnation is starting to feel limiting. NO desire for SES. I have the benefit that I love my agency and coworkers. And I have a ton of outside-work commitments with the kids so I really rely and appreciate the predictable schedule.

Also - any thoughts on at what age it’s too late to make the leap? E.g. Would I still be marketable at 48?

Similar situation here. Late 30s, capped 15 for the last 5 years. My job and coworkers are great, and the agency knows it needs to be flexible and accommodating to retain people. As someone with young kids, that helps a lot.

But the idea of just watching my income shrink each year due to inflation for the next 25+ years is pretty troubling.

What about the very real risk of being laid off in private industry?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you that made the leap, have your hours changed? With elementary school kids, its nice to know I can rely on a 40-hour-a-week schedule. Of course sometimes I work late, but not regularly.

I’m 43 and starting to consider this change. I’ve been a 15 for a decade and the pay stagnation is starting to feel limiting. NO desire for SES. I have the benefit that I love my agency and coworkers. And I have a ton of outside-work commitments with the kids so I really rely and appreciate the predictable schedule.

Also - any thoughts on at what age it’s too late to make the leap? E.g. Would I still be marketable at 48?

Similar situation here. Late 30s, capped 15 for the last 5 years. My job and coworkers are great, and the agency knows it needs to be flexible and accommodating to retain people. As someone with young kids, that helps a lot.

But the idea of just watching my income shrink each year due to inflation for the next 25+ years is pretty troubling.

What about the very real risk of being laid off in private industry?

It's a risk I'm considering after loosing a ton of purchasing power.

We're hemorrhaging gs-14 engineers right now due to pay, as private industry in the tech world gives equivlent benefits other than pension, but much more pay.

[Anonymous]

I'm a 15 equivalent at an Agency that has an impossible mandate and is brimming with toxicity. Almost everyone has an advanced degree, yet can't figure out how to effectively operationalize most things. It's maddening.

I understand that I have value on the outside, but am so beaten down and not sure where or how to start looking. I'd love to leave this industry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those who left, So do you give up the retirement and healthcare?

My DH left federal service at age 50 after 20 years. He moved to a private sector job. The health insurance premiums were more expensive at his new job, but we just switched to the health insurance for me job (which we should have done years ago because this plan is more generous that CareFirst BCBS FEP program.)

As we understand it, my DH still gets credit for the 20 years that he put in, in terms of his future pension. So I don't know what you mean that he "gives up the retirement?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those of you that made the leap, have your hours changed? With elementary school kids, its nice to know I can rely on a 40-hour-a-week schedule. Of course sometimes I work late, but not regularly.

I’m 43 and starting to consider this change. I’ve been a 15 for a decade and the pay stagnation is starting to feel limiting. NO desire for SES. I have the benefit that I love my agency and coworkers. And I have a ton of outside-work commitments with the kids so I really rely and appreciate the predictable schedule.

Also - any thoughts on at what age it’s too late to make the leap? E.g. Would I still be marketable at 48?

This is exactly me--also capped out as a 15 w/15 years in and I think this is one of the reasons why I've been feeling so aimless at work lately and am just going through the motions. The pay is comfortable as a dual income household, but yes it's low comparatively, but I have flexibility, a predictable schedule, a short commute, lots of outside of work commitments and activities for myself and w/my kids and can be home or at school in a moment's notice, but I just don't have any major professional goals at 45 which is sad and I just don't think I can coast for the next 15 years. I have zero desire to be SES (seems miserable). I toy with the idea of the private sector, but then I worry about job stability and hours--despite the relatively low pay, federal govt does offer stability for the most part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those of you that made the leap, have your hours changed? With elementary school kids, its nice to know I can rely on a 40-hour-a-week schedule. Of course sometimes I work late, but not regularly.

I’m 43 and starting to consider this change. I’ve been a 15 for a decade and the pay stagnation is starting to feel limiting. NO desire for SES. I have the benefit that I love my agency and coworkers. And I have a ton of outside-work commitments with the kids so I really rely and appreciate the predictable schedule.

Also - any thoughts on at what age it’s too late to make the leap? E.g. Would I still be marketable at 48?

This is exactly me--also capped out as a 15 w/15 years in and I think this is one of the reasons why I've been feeling so aimless at work lately and am just going through the motions. The pay is comfortable as a dual income household, but yes it's low comparatively, but I have flexibility, a predictable schedule, a short commute, lots of outside of work commitments and activities for myself and w/my kids and can be home or at school in a moment's notice, but I just don't have any major professional goals at 45 which is sad and I just don't think I can coast for the next 15 years. I have zero desire to be SES (seems miserable). I toy with the idea of the private sector, but then I worry about job stability and hours--despite the relatively low pay, federal govt does offer stability for the most part.

Should add that I have a short commute on the 2 days I'm required in--again what am I complaining about but the lack of professional goals is sort of gnawing at me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

NP. I agree. Also it can be really tedious. People need a particular personality for it. Many people chasing a degree in cyber, will get in and hate it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those who left, So do you give up the retirement and healthcare?

My DH left federal service at age 50 after 20 years. He moved to a private sector job. The health insurance premiums were more expensive at his new job, but we just switched to the health insurance for me job (which we should have done years ago because this plan is more generous that CareFirst BCBS FEP program.)

As we understand it, my DH still gets credit for the 20 years that he put in, in terms of his future pension. So I don't know what you mean that he "gives up the retirement?"

NP. If you retire before your minimum retirement age, there is a significant reduction in your pension and you lose your health insurance benefits. No bueno.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I’m in this mix. Not sure yet what I’ll do. I am early 40s and want to work part time as my spouse has a big job and our kids are young. I don’t even care what the job is at this point. I have an excellent reputation and will happily do lower level work if it means I can stay. But Usg makes part time practically impossible to find. Especially for people who are actually very experienced and have a lot to offer. It’s like if they can’t have me 10 hrs a day they don’t want me. I’m trying to figure out what to do.

Are you a supervisor? At my agency it's easy for non-supervisory 15s to go part-time. We have quite a few and I've never heard of anyone being disapproved.

Ooh, what agency?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those who left, So do you give up the retirement and healthcare?

My DH left federal service at age 50 after 20 years. He moved to a private sector job. The health insurance premiums were more expensive at his new job, but we just switched to the health insurance for me job (which we should have done years ago because this plan is more generous that CareFirst BCBS FEP program.)

As we understand it, my DH still gets credit for the 20 years that he put in, in terms of his future pension. So I don't know what you mean that he "gives up the retirement?"

he gave up his health insurance PP. That's one of the main reasons people put up with govt pay for decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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)

This is super old, I know, but I just saw your reply.

Yes, I am an attorney and worked in an agency with a very quick ladder to 15. Became a 15 at 33. Left government as a supervisory 15 mid-pandemic for a lobbying job. Twice the salary, no supervisory role, tons of autonomy and flexibility. Never once looked back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those who left, So do you give up the retirement and healthcare?

My DH left federal service at age 50 after 20 years. He moved to a private sector job. The health insurance premiums were more expensive at his new job, but we just switched to the health insurance for me job (which we should have done years ago because this plan is more generous that CareFirst BCBS FEP program.)

As we understand it, my DH still gets credit for the 20 years that he put in, in terms of his future pension. So I don't know what you mean that he "gives up the retirement?"

he gave up his health insurance PP. That's one of the main reasons people put up with govt pay for decades.

At a certain point of low salary, is it worth it? If you still plan to work until age 65 you can get Medicare after that (which is what every private sector worker has to do).