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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Did you mean "wage" not "age"?

My goals are to utilize the training I obtained through my advanced degree and to obtain recognition for my contributions.  Granted, some academic skills are not relevant to real world problems, and therefore I agree that I should spend part of my time doing a variety of activities valuable to my organization, which do not rely on my training.  However, it seems that the males in my organization have greater access to assignments that utilize their training.  They also appear to have their names on work products more often than the women do.

There are two negatives to writing a paper.  First, it can be difficult to get permission for sufficient official time to write quality papers.  Second, if you invest the time to do so, you will have less time for an independent consulting project.   Writing the paper can be rewarding, I agree, even if it doesn't get accepted.

What issues can consulting on the side cause?  I would clear this in advance with my ethics office, and I would choose areas outside the domain of my agency to avoid conflicts.
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No, I meant age. There's like a 10 year gap in the middle, which makes it a little more difficult to get ahead because every time there's an opening there are a ton of people looking to fill it. I'm honestly not sure why I mentioned it. I must have misread your post.

Anyway, whether or not you get to write a paper on official time depends on what the paper is on. If the group sees it as a good thing for them, they'll let you write it on the clock. Otherwise you need to do it on your own. I was referring to ethics issues in consulting, but if you're going to make certain there's not a conflict that is okay.

In any case, I can't really see what you're going for. I think you need to be more clear on what the type of recognition is that you're looking for. If you're looking for something more challenging or something that garners recognition. Those are not the same thing....although they could come from the same place.

The fact is that you may not get to use all of your skills at work. If you don't want to leave your job you'll have to figure out how to use them elsewhere. You're stating in your original post a lot of things that conflict. You want to get recognition and use skills. You can't use them at your current job. You do not want to leave your current job. You don't want to do these things off the clock. You can't have it all. You either need to find a new job (in the Federal Government, likely) that utilizes your skills or you need to do something about it off hours, which will eat into your time with your family.

We're all making these choices, men and women, so I can definitely identify with your problem. I just don't know that there's a good way to solve it. 
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