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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This post hits home! I’ve find it really hard to mentor students. I totally understand wanting to do fulfilling work. I like my job. It’s good work and I help people. AND, I like that I can afford to make 3-4 international vacations a year and enjoy fine dining etc.

I make $187k + bonus (single. No kids and I’m 38). Along the way, I took some jobs that were not great, but gave me skills I need to keep progressing. Those jobs (ie budget analyst) sucked, but I chose to see the positive and knew it was just a stop along the way.

My sister refused to “sell her soul.” She make $60k with a kid and struggles. She can’t do ANYTHING. Even a pedicure is a tough spend for her.  She has to go on a 18 month payment plan for a 4 day vacation at some 3 star resort in the Bahamas or our dad pays. More often than not, dad pays. 
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Just curious, what is your job and what has your career path looked like? Also, just curious, why do you need a high paying job if you don’t have any kids? [/quote]

Fed here and new Senior Executive (2nd year as SES, 12 years as a fed). Worked in higher Ed for 2 years before getting my MPA. I started as an performance auditor with an OIG (2 years) Then worked as a budget analyst (3 years).  Learned a lot in these role. Became an administrative officer (somewhat like a chief of staff)—one of the most thankless jobs next to HR. You do a little bit of everything to keep the org running smoothing (IT, budget, HR, contracting, strategic planning, org development).

When I tell students about my path, they are quick to say “I don’t want to do that. I want to impact national policy.” But then I start telling stories about my career.  I start with my days doing budget formulation work and how I made a number recommendations that my CFO adopted. These recs directed agency resources and activities which basically set national policy. Students are stunned hearing this. I talk about my days as an auditor and how one of the programs I evaluated led Congress to give the agency more authority to address a national problem. Student are stunned. Even the AO job led to me being an informal advisor to the #2 in my agency. I always smile when I see his all staff emails. I almost always recognize my ideas from our coffee or happy hour chats.

In regards to the second part of your question—I love to travel. I love buying art. I love wine and cooking. These things cost money, especially when you live in expensive cities such as DC. Also, I may adopt a kid. On the fence with this one, but I can considering it. Thinking through how my life would change as a single dad.

Again, I love me job. On the surface it seems soul sucking. But it really is what you make it. To a large extent I volunteered to be on task force and be part of meetings where I could have influence. These things helped me feel like I was doing what I went to school to do. [/quote]

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