Anonymous wrote:I know this is probably more of a self-worth issue, but sometimes I feel less accomplished (almost inferior) to my friends who make more outside the government. I have a good job with decent work life balance, am respected, and believe in my agency's mission. I know that money should not be the value of someone's worth, but it's easy to lose perspective around here. Just needed an anonymous vent for a moment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another 15 here. To me it's lose of tech skills... All of my work is papers/emails/meetings. I've become a generalist over the years.

Is this typical? What exactly do you create or contribute each day? Not snark, serious question. Do you feel like it is a lot of wasted time?

Anonymous wrote:Another 15 here. To me it's lose of tech skills... All of my work is papers/emails/meetings. I've become a generalist over the years.

Anonymous wrote:PP, you nailed it. I feel the exact same way. I am a 14/7 and no longer want to even think about coming into work. The job just isn't satisfying any more.

Anonymous wrote:It's all a matter of perspective.

My wife is a civil servant (GS-14) and I am a federal contractor (I make the equivalent of a GS-15). We may make less than peers in the private sector, but we also know we have a much better work-life home balance. We see our kids way more than those peers in private sector do and we have a lot more flexibility to take care of our family as we need to. My wife has a long term medical issue that has required significant medical treatment over the years (including 15 surgeries in 14 years). We can take the time we need to travel for the best medical care in the country including many follow-up medical visits to another city. We can flex our time to cover lots of this. We can take family vacations and take time to do things for our young children. For example, one of the parent chaperones had to drop out for our kids' class field trip this week. I found out last week about 6 business days before, but with very little notice, I could request leave and replace that chaperone (in fact, the teacher asked me if I could come as I've chaperoned before and work well with the kids). My work had no problem. I know friends in my field out in private and some guys would be pressured not to go or would be frowned on asking for last minute leave for a child's field trip. Not worth it at all. My wife's benefits are extremely good for our family and she gets to telework 4 days a week thanks to her special accommodations. A lot of her peers in private would not be able to do that. We have plenty. While we make less than our peers, we also make more than 95% of the country and 90% of locals. We're grateful for what we have and do not resent being out in the stressful grind of the private sector and missing out on our children growing up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this is probably more of a self-worth issue, but sometimes I feel less accomplished (almost inferior) to my friends who make more outside the government. I have a good job with decent work life balance, am respected, and believe in my agency's mission. I know that money should not be the value of someone's worth, but it's easy to lose perspective around here. Just needed an anonymous vent for a moment.

How many of them have pensions?


I'll be sitting on my ass collecting $60K. My husband will be collecting even more.

That's how I justify my government job.

And trust me when I say I work hard each day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you sound a lot like my DH. For the first 5-7 years he was a fed, his sense of mission and work made him feel like it was fine that he was making less than his peers (he was in biglaw before and took a paycut to go into the fed gov). Then he moved up in his agency, and soured on the sense of mission as he saw how politics played into his work. Before that he definitely felt like he had great work life balance, good colleagues in the gov, and felt like he was doing good in the world and that his gov job was a great career opportunity.

Once DH lost the sense of mission in his gov job, he became more focused on the financial aspects of his job, and more keenly aware that his former biglaw colleagues were making more. Eventually this combination drove him back to private practice/biglaw, and (honestly) he is MUCH, MUCH happier than he was as a fed.

That hits home really hard for me - - and I think a lot of my Agency. A LOT of people are looking to jump.

Anonymous wrote:It's all a matter of perspective.

My wife is a civil servant (GS-14) and I am a federal contractor (I make the equivalent of a GS-15). We may make less than peers in the private sector, but we also know we have a much better work-life home balance. We see our kids way more than those peers in private sector do and we have a lot more flexibility to take care of our family as we need to. My wife has a long term medical issue that has required significant medical treatment over the years (including 15 surgeries in 14 years). We can take the time we need to travel for the best medical care in the country including many follow-up medical visits to another city. We can flex our time to cover lots of this. We can take family vacations and take time to do things for our young children. For example, one of the parent chaperones had to drop out for our kids' class field trip this week. I found out last week about 6 business days before, but with very little notice, I could request leave and replace that chaperone (in fact, the teacher asked me if I could come as I've chaperoned before and work well with the kids). My work had no problem. I know friends in my field out in private and some guys would be pressured not to go or would be frowned on asking for last minute leave for a child's field trip. Not worth it at all. My wife's benefits are extremely good for our family and she gets to telework 4 days a week thanks to her special accommodations. A lot of her peers in private would not be able to do that. We have plenty. While we make less than our peers, we also make more than 95% of the country and 90% of locals. We're grateful for what we have and do not resent being out in the stressful grind of the private sector and missing out on our children growing up.