Anonymous wrote:It seems like everyone here makes SO MUCH MONEY and I don't get it. Are you all lawyers? We are living on a HHI of $200K and it seems like we are destitute compared to everyone here. I work at a non-profit organization and make a paltry $75K a year. Should I be looking for a new job? I've been in the workforce for almost 10 years.

I just finished reading this thread and bolded how I felt.

I will go ahead and stay out of this thread because my income doesn't even compare, LOL. I work for the feds too but I'm in no way pulling the amount of money told here.

Anonymous wrote:Both 33. I am a researcher at a nonprofit, he is an engineer at a government agency. $107k and $118k.

What type of nonprofit? That's better than I've seen for researcher positions.

Anonymous wrote:To give you an idea of the pay cut: a college senior'sFacebook job offer is $150k plus 100k sign on bonus. The USDS folks have been in the industry at least 5 years. no way the government can match their salary.

A single anecdote is not persuasive. There is always someone who makes an unbelievable salary and taxpayers cannot and should not be on the hook for these kinds of unique extreme stories. The fact that some mediocre overpaid fed would haul out this story as a "defense" for their inflated salary seems pathetic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The comment about military spending being too high is laughable.

Why?

I agree that military spending is generally too high, but military salaries are not. Look up what an E-2 or E-3 is making. These are the men and women who put their lives at risk and they make less than if they'd chosen to work at McDonalds. They also are not the recipients of pensions (have to committ to 20 years for a pension, only 17% across the military do that) or any sort of retirement matching. But BAH (housing allowance), salary freezes, commissary privileges, medical care, etc. are always first on the defense budget chopping block rather than their wasteful contracts for equipment that will never be used. It's shameful.

Me: biglaw associate (3rd yr), 185k + bonus (not sure what it will be this year, i believe last years was 40k)
DW: law enforcement, 8 years experience, take home last year was $75k, varies depending on overtime and shift differentials

Both 33. I am a researcher at a nonprofit, he is an engineer at a government agency. $107k and $118k.

Me: 150K, independent political consultant, awesome flexibility but I have to maintain contracts. Only work 35 hours per week out of my house but no true vacation- I travel but I need to check email and take a few calls.
DH:90K, comms director at nonprofit. good flexibility. also works from home a few days a week. but NGO not totally stable.

Anonymous wrote:The comment about military spending being too high is laughable.

Why?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To give you an idea of the pay cut: a college senior'sFacebook job offer is $150k plus 100k sign on bonus. The USDS folks have been in the industry at least 5 years. no way the government can match their salary.

I doubt any college senior got an offer from Facebook for 150K + 100K signing bonus...glassdoor gives salary ranges, at that would be for a senior SW engineer.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/business_insider/2015/04/02/stanford_graduates_get_fought_over_by_tech_companies_like_snapchat_and_have.html

Anonymous wrote:To give you an idea of the pay cut: a college senior'sFacebook job offer is $150k plus 100k sign on bonus. The USDS folks have been in the industry at least 5 years. no way the government can match their salary.

I doubt any college senior got an offer from Facebook for 150K + 100K signing bonus...glassdoor gives salary ranges, at that would be for a senior SW engineer.

To give you an idea of the pay cut: a college senior'sFacebook job offer is $150k plus 100k sign on bonus. The USDS folks have been in the industry at least 5 years. no way the government can match their salary.

DH: senior counsel 180k
Me: independent consultant 20-100k

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:39, government attorney, 225K

How can you work for the federal government and make so much more than a Member of Congress??? You're not exactly a Cabinet member.

Isn't there a statute against that....

Funded by bank fees. That have to pay that much to even hope to get staff; the personnel they are regulating at the banks are paids many hundreds of thousands.

This, and I am a manager so on the high end of what my agency pays.

Anonymous wrote:The way the "feds" reply on this listserv make me cringe. They sound so entitled and self righteous. They don't need to explain to anyone what they do, but making $225K is totally OK. Median household income in 2014 was $51,939. That includes double income households.

I'm not saying everyone has to make $52K or even twice that $104K, I'm saying that more than 50% of Americans are paying taxes based on salaries of $52k...

I am not a fad, but there are skills that would command much higher salaries in the private sector. I know the young people from Google, Amazon....at USDS actually took a big pay cut to work in fed IT.

Part-time consultant and sometimes adjunct for a total of about 15-20 hrs per week - $40K

Fed atty - $155k