nick898 t1_jaa7cd7 wrote on February 27, 2023 at 11:40 PM

I’m a government contractor living in Northern Virginia. Moving to this area has been one of the greatest decisions I could have ever made financially and professionally.

The economy around here is as close to recession proof as you can get possibly get. Lots of job opportunities. Federal government is very secure work. You won’t get rich, but you can live a solid life with great benefits and a pension. If the position provides opportunities to get a clearance it’s even better.

I think the public transit in DC is pretty good. Haven’t used it in a while but always felt like I could get to where I needed to go in DC.

You’ll very likely need roommates like you said.

If you don’t see a ton of upward movement in your current job I see very little downside to moving to DC for a career in the federal government. Seems like a no brainer to me.

I wouldn’t be too worried about the state of politics in our country. You can’t predict the future. This seems like a great foot in the door opportunity that could lead to bigger and better things 5 or 10 years down the line.

newbureaucrat1 OP t1_jaa9thi wrote on February 27, 2023 at 11:57 PM

Thank you for the sound advice, and honestly cutting through the political noise. I saw a lot of posts today about Republican grandstanding at cutting federal telework policies and other things basically designed to starve out fed staff. Made me second guess whether it'd be even right to walk into a situation like that, ya know?

But you're right, it is basically recession proof. My current job doesn't require a clearance, but it's a foot in the door and as long as I get any part time work cleared, I should be just fine financially. As you say I won't get rich, but a solid life is what I'm after. I grew up a child of Central European immigrants so as you may imagine there's some leftover prestige in working for the state and respect for those civil servants/contractors, even if the average American thinks of them as just some bean counter or under-achieving IT student lol.

I am serving the nation, in my own way.

> I think the public transit in DC is pretty good. Haven’t used it in a while but always felt like I could get to where I needed to go in DC.

For context, around here the Commission for the Blind can do most everything except transit. It's really only Uber or Lyft, and they can't subsidize that (for obvious reasons, cost is too wildly in flux). There is zero public transit here, unless you want to go from your hotel to the Boardwalk once per day.

Is 4k on the low end of what might be enough to get someone set up? I know inflation has been kind of rough lately, eggs at $6/unit and all. I figure even if I don't put in 30 years, I can at least put in a solid decade or so, and get some type of secured pension.

nick898 t1_jad5296 wrote on February 28, 2023 at 4:10 PM

I would imagine you can get setup here with 4k. I'd definitely prioritize things though and try to live as barebones as you can early on. The point is just get here and start getting a steady income stream coming in and then you can start buying things that you put off that weren't absolutely essential.

And yea agreed I wish there was some more prestige for federal workers. I don't think Americans realize just how much is done on their behalf that they don't know about. Their impressions come from their experience at the DMV or what they hear on the news. Michael Lewis wrote a good book, The Fifth Risk, that sort of highlights some of the unsung heroes in the federal government. I found it pretty interesting and it definitely rang true to me. If you're passionate about that sort of stuff it would probably be a good thing to bring up whenever you have an interview. I imagine they look for people like that.