whatre your thoughts on government jobs?
Im thinking about taking a job at the Argonne National Laboratory. They have a supercomputer there. Would it be smarter careerwise to aim for a tech company? The job is devops/SRE/sys admin type work. They do a lot of physics work there, but I wouldnt be involved in the research, just maintaining systems. What are your thoughts?
Absolutely terrible for your career if you care about TC
Everyone I know who worked in gov hated it (sample size like 3 people)
Dumbshit work like FB would pay more. If you want to do something meaningful ANL would be a great place to be. If you just want money then go to private sector. You’ll serve no purpose but make better life for yourself
Stay away. Most of the great government benefits of the past that people raved about are gone. Pay is rigidly locked to the GS scale and there's nothing you can do about it. Pay can't keep up with the private industry. Government people are impossible to fire, that creates a whole set of new problems. People that don't give a shit about anyone else or anything cause nothing can be done to them. I have coworkers that sleep all day and can barely do their job, their skills have eroded so badly that they cause more problems than they fix, everyone says just wait until they retire in a few years then everything will be different, what a waste of time. A lot of time wasting actually.
I’ll avoid. Thanks!
Sounds like the military
Pay will be fixed, but there's also some job security potentially. You didn't say what level they offer you? Benefits are actually good. Fed workers still earn a pension and matched contributions to the TSP program (kinda like 401k) If it's your only offer, I'd consider it. It's for some people, others it's not. You won't be a millionaire unless you out 20 or 30 years in and invest wisely, but you also won't have to deal with crazy schedules or losing all your stock or your job because your founder is a crack head If you do enough time and retire, you can keep your federal health insurance (have to pay the premiums yourself) Source: did 15 years in government. I actually plan to back in another 10 years to make it an even 20, unless we get socialized healthcare between now and then
Sounds smart. The other guy says the perks are gone must be referring to FERS vs CSRS. Of course the Government can't pay people 2% per year served after 10 (1.5 and 1.75 for the first two sets of 5 years). Now FERS is 1% per year served and you get TSP. Invest wisely and it's not a bad deal. California State workers also get fat pensions. Some draw $200-350K at retirement! Pretty nuts. For what it's worth, Electricians who retire around 55 also get $100K+ pension plus three other forms of pensions/retirements. School paid for by the Union and everything.
This is a federal contractor. They don't have pensions or follow the GS scales.
All the smart people go to private industry after working at a DOE Lab for a bit. The can't fire me government culture is strongly engrained. The people who stay are typically government work fanboys or they can't make it in the real world and have no option but to stay. The head of the DOE states that her main goal is to create "good paying union jobs" not useful or productive ones...
Bad comp. Also. Speaking from direct experience with their supercomputer. It’s shit. But probably pretty good wlb.
I think the government doesn’t pay enough. You need to have a lot of motivation towards a particular field for it to make sense.
Would it be good on a resume tho if I’m fresh outta a M.S. in IT degree program?
Sure. But don't stay more than a year or two.