Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For reference, a GS-15 salary in metro DC peaks at maybe $197,000. The $239,000 peak of a L5 is above an SES-3.

For reference, the exit options when you're an SES who is involved with technology in government act as deferred compensation. Your MITRE engineer is not getting that.

Virtually every case I am aware of, that SES retired fully. Almost all had 35-40 years of Federal service. At age 65, few are being hired anywhere.

DataRobot, Palantir, Microsoft, and Anthropic have all hired SESs who were involved in tech in the not too recent past.

Those are exceptions - not widespread or commonplace.

Those are the ones I didn't even have to dig for. Microsoft alone has at least two. Oh, and the CTO of Lockheed Martin. There are also ones I know who went to smaller contractors, and/or on boards. I can't think of any I know who plain retired. If you are technical and you are very successful in government, your external options are dramatically better than if you were a random senior engineer at MITRE. And that's in addition to the impact piece. These senior engineer jobs pay well because not a lot of people can do them, and that's the only compensation you're getting for them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it’s outdated, but it does feel like there’s a need to return to basics, focusing on the routine, often underpaid work that keeps the federal government running.

Underpaid?

We were talking about salaries upthread. Here is an L5 at Mitre, one of their most prominent positions,

$191,200 - $239,000 - $286,800 Annual (from the link below)

Given, this L5 is in data science/AI which is their highest paid job family (not all L5s are created equal)

https://careers.mitre.org/us/en/job/R116549/Principal-Software-Data-and-AI-Engineer

Low end of that spectrum is higher than the top end for a GS15. And Mitre tries to hire for the middle of the pay band.

That's it? CNA has high senior staff (form Feds) and VPs and Senior VPs in their IPR division making $290k-$350k...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For reference, a GS-15 salary in metro DC peaks at maybe $197,000. The $239,000 peak of a L5 is above an SES-3.

For reference, the exit options when you're an SES who is involved with technology in government act as deferred compensation. Your MITRE engineer is not getting that.

Virtually every case I am aware of, that SES retired fully. Almost all had 35-40 years of Federal service. At age 65, few are being hired anywhere.

DataRobot, Palantir, Microsoft, and Anthropic have all hired SESs who were involved in tech in the not too recent past.

Those are exceptions - not widespread or commonplace.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think I've seen this guy on CNN as a commentator

Is this the same guy that appears to be lobbying for RAND now? https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-ally-lanza-becomes-consultant-180200746.html

it appears that rand terminated this lobbyist.... https://archive.is/20260505083424/https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2026/05/04/a-new-class-of-super-pacs-is-emerging-voters-are-wary-00905570

In my opinion there is no real need to hire a lobbyist. Engaging Congress is part of the CEO’s job and it is why they are paid top dollar to do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For reference, a GS-15 salary in metro DC peaks at maybe $197,000. The $239,000 peak of a L5 is above an SES-3.

For reference, the exit options when you're an SES who is involved with technology in government act as deferred compensation. Your MITRE engineer is not getting that.

Virtually every case I am aware of, that SES retired fully. Almost all had 35-40 years of Federal service. At age 65, few are being hired anywhere.

DataRobot, Palantir, Microsoft, and Anthropic have all hired SESs who were involved in tech in the not too recent past.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For reference, a GS-15 salary in metro DC peaks at maybe $197,000. The $239,000 peak of a L5 is above an SES-3.

For reference, the exit options when you're an SES who is involved with technology in government act as deferred compensation. Your MITRE engineer is not getting that.

Virtually every case I am aware of, that SES retired fully. Almost all had 35-40 years of Federal service. At age 65, few are being hired anywhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think I've seen this guy on CNN as a commentator

Is this the same guy that appears to be lobbying for RAND now? https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-ally-lanza-becomes-consultant-180200746.html

it appears that rand terminated this lobbyist.... https://archive.is/20260505083424/https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2026/05/04/a-new-class-of-super-pacs-is-emerging-voters-are-wary-00905570

Anonymous wrote:For reference, a GS-15 salary in metro DC peaks at maybe $197,000. The $239,000 peak of a L5 is above an SES-3.

For reference, the exit options when you're an SES who is involved with technology in government act as deferred compensation. Your MITRE engineer is not getting that.

Anonymous wrote:For reference, a GS-15 salary in metro DC peaks at maybe $197,000. The $239,000 peak of a L5 is above an SES-3.

239k is the midpoint of that L5. The peak was 286k. Yikes.

Anonymous wrote:And all of this expertise and GS-15s and L5s got us into the debacle of the war with Iran. The truth is that it all appears to be a waste of money

No. Those always are political appointee decisions, and are never within scope for career civil service people.

For reference, a GS-15 salary in metro DC peaks at maybe $197,000. The $239,000 peak of a L5 is above an SES-3.

And all of this expertise and GS-15s and L5s got us into the debacle of the war with Iran. The truth is that it all appears to be a waste of money

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it’s outdated, but it does feel like there’s a need to return to basics, focusing on the routine, often underpaid work that keeps the federal government running.

Underpaid?

We were talking about salaries upthread. Here is an L5 at Mitre, one of their most prominent positions,

$191,200 - $239,000 - $286,800 Annual (from the link below)

Given, this L5 is in data science/AI which is their highest paid job family (not all L5s are created equal)

https://careers.mitre.org/us/en/job/R116549/Principal-Software-Data-and-AI-Engineer

Low end of that spectrum is higher than the top end for a GS15. And Mitre tries to hire for the middle of the pay band.

There are very few GS-15 positions in government that have that heavy technical requirements. And to the extent there are and they hire successfully, it's been through teams that have been able to offer impact, culture, and visibility to senior leadership in a way that contractors rarely can. People throw around "higher than GS-15s" as if you should be able to get any kind of talent for that amount of money, but technical hiring is an enormous problem for the government.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it’s outdated, but it does feel like there’s a need to return to basics, focusing on the routine, often underpaid work that keeps the federal government running.

Underpaid?

We were talking about salaries upthread. Here is an L5 at Mitre, one of their most prominent positions,

$191,200 - $239,000 - $286,800 Annual (from the link below)

Given, this L5 is in data science/AI which is their highest paid job family (not all L5s are created equal)

https://careers.mitre.org/us/en/job/R116549/Principal-Software-Data-and-AI-Engineer

Low end of that spectrum is higher than the top end for a GS15. And Mitre tries to hire for the middle of the pay band.

He's saying they should be underpaid. You're saying they're not.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it’s outdated, but it does feel like there’s a need to return to basics, focusing on the routine, often underpaid work that keeps the federal government running.

Underpaid?

We were talking about salaries upthread. Here is an L5 at Mitre, one of their most prominent positions,

$191,200 - $239,000 - $286,800 Annual (from the link below)

Given, this L5 is in data science/AI which is their highest paid job family (not all L5s are created equal)

https://careers.mitre.org/us/en/job/R116549/Principal-Software-Data-and-AI-Engineer

Low end of that spectrum is higher than the top end for a GS15. And Mitre tries to hire for the middle of the pay band.