I’m considering applying for a job with the government and was just wondering if anyone has any personal experience. This particular job is maintenance technician. From my perspective, it seems more stable than a private sector job. This particular job would normally be flat-rate, but because its working for uncle Obama, it’s hourly. That’s a big plus in my book. What are the pros and cons from your perspective?
Well, my wife has been working in a government position since 1992, which is four Presidents ago (she started under Bush). So you can choose to be bothered by the administration, or not- since they are going to change.
My personal con is that her healthcare allows for a single person or 4, nothing in between- so if we wanted to choose between mine and hers, it's not really a fair comparison.
Other than that, it's a job. You'll make of it what you will- good, bad, ugly, amazing, just like any other job.
In my experience with government don't expect to get overtime. They'll pay you, but its generally frowned upon. Benefits rock. Lots of room for growth and lateral movement. Once your in, stay in, even through rocky periods.
I've been offered two government positions and turned them both down. The stability was the draw for me. They do have occasional furloughs of government workers, but compared to the real world it is very stable employment. I ended up turning both offers down because the pay was quite a bit lower than I was making otherwise, there was little room for advancement/promotion in either spot, and frankly it felt like giving up and coasting since I felt I would've taken either job and then worked that job till I retired. There are a lot of good folks working in civil service jobs, but there is also a lot of waste and inefficiency. I really don't think I would be happy working in that type of environment.
T.J. wrote: but there is also a lot of waste and inefficiency. I really don't think I would be happy working in that type of environment.
Why do you think that is limited to civil positions?
Just because a company works for money does not mean there's not massive waste- it's just not exposed by the media and scrutinized by politicians.
I know people who work massive overtime w/o pay. I know people who work without much purpose. I know there's waste. I know there's initiatives that boost "value" which don't.
And I saw that in a government contract company I worked for, and oil company I worked for, the university I worked for, and now a publicly traded company. And my friends in other companies joke about it happening there, too.
It's why Dilbert is so popular.
Government work is not an innovative field. If you're the creative type who relishes working outside the box, you're generally going to be unhappy with government bureaucracy.
Lots of vacation time, good benefits, good retirement. Low pay. If you want the big bucks, government work isn't it. If you want the rest and look forward to a classic retirement, it looks a lot better.
I get pissed off at the 3% annual "performance" raises in the private sector. They finally admitted this year regardless of your performance you get 3%............so uh what's the incentive to keep kicking butt?
If the thought of only getting 3% every year is a turn-off, the gubmint is WAY worse. I think my mom has received 1, 2% raise or something in the last 4-5 years.
foxtrapper wrote: Government work is not an innovative field. If you're the creative type who relishes working outside the box, you're generally going to be unhappy with government bureaucracy.
Another- why do you think that is limited to civil jobs?
Some of the people that I know of in government based positions are very innovative, and are trying to push the boundaries of technology. And this is direct federal job, not a contractor. On the other hand, for many years, companies admittedly relegated themselves to close followers. That really suck watching the competition come up with good ideas that we would pick up after analizing what they did.
Again, Dilbert is popular for a reason.
It all depends on the job and the people you work with.
z31maniac wrote: I get pissed off at the 3% annual "performance" raises in the private sector. They finally admitted this year regardless of your performance you get 3%............so uh what's the incentive to keep kicking butt?
If you work really really hard you'll totally get rich of course, duh! 
So government workers in the US haven't had their pay frozen for years now? You lucky dogs!
No, it's been frozen for several years now. On the other hand, I get more annual leave than I can use. So there is that I guess.
Actually the low pay depends on where you live. Where I am the average household income is only $30k a year. That is household not individual. The government jobs available around here mostly start at double that. My wife and I could live quite comfortably on just that around here.
Thanks for the feedback guys, especially the first-hand experience (or 1.5 hand in Alfa's case since its your wife haha).
Basically, I'm just at a place where I want to go to work, do a good job, and go home. Currently, you have to really play the politics thing just to hope to get anywhere. The pay for this position is about what I'm making now, and I don't know about vacation or anything else.
This is all premature because I'm only in the application process, but I wanted to get some insight before I start the lengthy process.
My great Aunt retired after 40 years with the Public Health Service to an extremely healthy pension.
My uncle works for the federal government now, don't know what exactly, but it is an analyst type job somehow dealing with utilities. He worked for private utility companies for about 25-30 years before going over the the government. His big complaint is how slow everything is, and for stupid reasons. He's told me that in his old jobs, he would compile a report, his boss would have him make a change, he'd make it, and that would be that. Now with the government, he'll compile the report, and his boss will have him make about 50 changes (one or two at a time, often undoing and redoing edits) before it is finally deemed ok. And that is the norm across the board in his department at his office.
It is a lot like working anywhere else, its just not as easy to get fired.
I work with a bunch of government employed maintenance people. I couldn't work with them, because they don't actually work. The electric shop mostly watches TV and surfs the internet. The carpenter shop mostly drinks coffee and watches TV. Pretty much all of them watch TV and play on the internet. It wouldn't take me long to get fired for calling someone, probably the boss, a lazy SOB. After a week, I'd be stir crazy.
The good news is, they use a lot of outside contractors, like me, to keep the building standing.
alfadriver wrote:T.J. wrote: but there is also a lot of waste and inefficiency. I really don't think I would be happy working in that type of environment.Why do you think that is limited to civil positions?
Agree that it not an issue exclusive to government positions. Didn't think I said it was, or at least didn't mean to imply that. I worked for the government for 20 years of active duty in the Navy, then worked for three years as a government contractor as part of an agency that is part of the DOD. It was excruciating. I got paid well to attend a handful of meetings a week, create some power point presentations, and surf the internet for a good bit of the day. The GS folks did less, since they had us contractors to do the 'work'. The whole thing stank of high salary welfare to me. I'm not saying that all government employees are bad or lazy or inefficient, just saying that the particular place I worked was like that. Along with the perceived safety net of having a job where you more than likely will never get laid off or fired from comes with a cost and that wasn't worth it to me, so I changed to a different line of work where I am busy and productive. I like to be challenged and I like to accomplish things. It was depressing to just get paid to do nothing.
Pros:
Job security
Good benefits, rivaled by those of unions
(Usually) reasonable working hours and vacation/sick time.
Cons:
Lower pay (especially in IT and Engineering positions)
Very rare overtime
Very few positions for advancement or promotion that do not require relocating to another part of the country and/or globe
I think the gooberment is the only place in the US that you can currently get a job.
My wife is an Air Force veteran, who then worked for the AF ~ 7 years as a civilian, and has worked for the VA for about 9 years now.
She really loved the military lifestyle - everything is well documented, people are held accountable, etc. The VA is almost completely opposite, it's very much "who you know", and it drives her crazy. YMMV
foxtrapper wrote: Government work is not an innovative field. If you're the creative type who relishes working outside the box, you're generally going to be unhappy with government bureaucracy.
I wouldn't necessarily agree with this. My mother worked for the Govt from '75 through to retirement a couple of years ago. Is it a bureaucracy? Of course. Any large corporation is. The govt's just gets applified due to the sheer size and 'fish-bowl' nature. The amount of waste I see in the Pharma industry is simply staggering. It can make our govt look down-right efficient.
However, good and innovative work DOES get recognized and rewarded. I know this from my mother's experience. She was a contract purchasing agent for the defense dept. During her career she received a number of step-raises and awards for saving the govt (you know: US!) money through the contracts she negotiated.
Lots of vacation time, good benefits, good retirement. Low pay. If you want the big bucks, government work isn't it. If you want the rest and look forward to a classic retirement, it looks a lot better.
This I will agree with. By the time she retired, she had something like 6 months of accrued sick leave and she got either 4 or 5 weeks of vacation time each year. She started early enough that she was in the pension system. Sometime in the mid 80's it switched to a more standard Social Security/401k set-up for public employees.
Ian F wrote: However, good and innovative work DOES get recognized and rewarded. I know this from my mother's experience. She was a contract purchasing agent for the defense dept. During her career she received a number of step-raises and awards for saving the govt (you know: US!) money through the contracts she negotiated.
So the US government hasn't yet figured out the trick of capping a position's salary just slightly above where it starts, and requiring a new position to be made (long drawn-out process involving higher-ups and budget approval) if anyone wants to be paid more.
I also get close to 5 weeks off a year now (just average by non-US standards) and I have no trouble using it all up!
My mother works for a particularly hated federal agency in a fairly high ranking technical position. Meddling from politicians and the cronies that they appoint is a common problem despite all the laws and regulations ment to keep them at bay. She is looking forward to retirement.
Those problems probably wouldn't be present in a maintenance shop, but you never know?
HappyAndy wrote: Those problems probably wouldn't be present in a maintenance shop, but you never know?
If it's anything like the maintenance personel I get to deal with on a regular basis, those problems will likely exist.
I work in building maintenance with the post office, I think its the greatest work there is! Its pretty much what you make of it, and I have seen insane amounts OT go out the door cause they gotta follow the contract.......thats right its a good UNION job!! Once youre past probation, youre pretty much set for life! PM me if its with the PO Ill fill you in.
Ron Swanson Says...
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