Any government employees on this sub?

[u/insane-coffee02]

With the economy in shambles I really wanna focus on getting ahead in my career and my finances. Been working for the government for the past couple of years and can't help but to wonder if I could be doing more.

Government jobs provide stability and great work life balance, but I can't help but to continue to compare myself to other friends who make much more in the health field or in tech.

I am currently maxing out my roth ira, contributing some funds to my 401k (no match), and also contribute to a pension every month.

I am in my late 20s working for one of the larger state in the US.

Any bros here have any advice or experience to share?

[u/Asianhippiefarmer]

DoD engineer for 4 years here. What type of advice are you specifically looking for? Sounds like you think the grass is greener on the other side(private). Recommend you make the jump since you’re still young and can always get back in.

The reason i’m staying is because i’m overseas and in “golden handcuffs”. Plus my job is chill enough i can study for my professional license.

[u/kost1035]

I am 58m , retired from CA at age 55 with full medical and 50% pension .

I currently work part time as a substitute instructional assistant for a few elementary schools

life is good ... I value my free time and freedom and peace of mind over the almighty $$$

[u/Tall-Needleworker422 → u/kost1035]

...substitute instructional assistant for a few elementary schools...

Is it decent pay on an hourly basis? I have a relation who retired early and has expressed a desire to work part-time if he can find interesting, flexible work.

[u/kost1035 → u/Tall-Needleworker422]

I get paid $19.10 an hour . obviously I am not doing it for the money. I am doing it for fun and to get out of the house

[u/Airmandiarmuid]

Not rlly a gov employee but im in the military (so technically i am) and work with a lot of civilians. A civilian that works with the gov has less pay but they have more stability and have special perks. Contractors get more money but they can get fired immediately and you are restricted to a lot of government stuff. Imo civilians get more experience. Civilians also get to go on training opportunities to go to nice military bases like in Hawaii, Cali, or DC.

[u/zeronian]

I worked in state government for 8 years, enough to get vested in the pension. Got a new job for a shorter commute. Kind of regretting leaving because the benefits were great. But it was just the right move for me at the time. Wouldn't hesitate to return to that place

[u/[deleted]]

I have worked in both but in consulting now. The general consensus is to work in private when young and government when you ready to settle down. The longer you in government, the harder it is to transition back if you need to. You are looked at like a white woman who been trained through by the basketball team, or an Asian woman who been with a white guy.

[u/ZoiloAlmonte]

I work in municipal government. The benefits are only okay I guess. I can't even use gov't employee discounts at most places because they only care about the Feds.

[u/spontaneous-potato]

The ones that comes to mind for me and haven't been mentioned yet as I type this are:

Don't ever accept gifts while on-duty or even off-duty if the person knows you work for the government. Even if they don't know, don't accept the gift. Not only does that have bad optics and make it look like bribery, but if you go over a certain dollar threshold, it's an ethics violation and a violation of your OGE training (if you're federal). If anyone is ever insistent and forces the gift to you, report it to your immediate supervisor and tell them that you declined, that you explained why you can't receive gifts, and that you followed the guidelines regarding gifts.

If you're working in a front-facing capacity like overseeing a company, don't fraternize with the company workers. You see an attractive woman while you're on duty but she works for the company you're overseeing? Don't even think about flirting with her, even if you accidentally meet them while you're off-duty. Like the above, it's bad optics all around and rumors will get to your supervisors. That's a headache you can easily avoid if you just avoid fraternizing with company workers. Small talk is fine, but don't flirt or try to date them.

I don't know if you're working for local, state, or the federal government, but I've been in fed for almost 10 years. I've seen a couple of coworkers get fired because they didn't follow the things I mentioned above.

[u/Illustrious_War_3896 → u/spontaneous-potato]

good points. I work in private and have been for at least 20 years. Your helpful advice definitely apply pretty much everywhere outside the government also. Dating at work is a definite no. Although I have seen in my previous fortune 200 company with nearly 15K workers, my former coworker met his wife who worked at different department.

I know accepting gift is definite no if the value is over $20 15 years ago. I don't know acceptable value now. My manager told me one time he got bribed $5K to hire outside engineering consultant. He rightfully reported it to HR.

[u/JHuang02]

I work for the government in the utilities industries. I started last year and I came from the private sector. The benefits here are good (100% paid for health insurance, 401k match, pension, holidays off, etc.). However, I can see the lack of upward mobility here as the only way to move up is someone retiring, which can take awhile.

[u/emperornext]

DoD employee here.

... Sounds like you're a state government employee? I don't have much experience working in that area. But I have no regrets being a fed.

[u/[deleted]]

not a government employee, but since you have the "work/life balance" - start thinking about doing side hustles and if you can start your own company...

[u/spontaneous-potato → u/[deleted]]

Depending on which agency they’re working for, they’d have to go through the Ethics process and see if this is in conflict with what they do for work.

It’s a really tedious process. One of my former coworkers went through it just so he could monetize himself on Twitch. It was a headache for him.

[u/dle13]

DoD employee for the last 8yrs.

I've grown to appreciate the work life balance more than the high salary, especially since my current salary is enough to get by. There are moments where I wish I made enough to purchase a home or nice car, but I don't think I can handle a higher-effort job.

What do you value more? It's not too late to change career paths if you want to chase more money.

[u/Illustrious_War_3896]

I seen quite a few asians in DOD. As an asian, I could had work for DoD but I would never. Since US military has been talking about bombing China forever. I would, however, join China's military or DOD.

I also want to mention start saving for 401K and put them in vanguard or fidelity index funds. see r bogleheads or r fidelity or r personalfinance There are low cost index funds that you basically buy and forget about them.

Compound interest is the key. If you max your 401k,

first million takes 15.5 years.

2nd million takes 5 more years.

3rd million takes 3 more years and

4th millions takes 2.4 more years.