Post: #51

(03-26-2013 09:13 PM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  Hell, you can be like this government worker who will retire making 400k a year for life. What is even more funny, this is a California government worker.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/priv...43471.html

Gman, she said she wasn't happy you left California and stopped paying the higher taxes.

Yeah, this is excessive. But don't let the oligarchs distract you with outliers. The average California pension is 25k.

http://www.calpersresponds.com/pension-m...-facts.php

I think a Goldman-Sachs parasite who skims off biz deals and gets 50M bonuses is more problematic.

Their average salaries look to be about 500k. Do they make a single widget for anybody?

http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/15/news/com...s.fortune/

Post: #52

(03-26-2013 09:18 PM)iknowexactly Wrote:  

(03-26-2013 09:13 PM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  Hell, you can be like this government worker who will retire making 400k a year for life. What is even more funny, this is a California government worker.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/priv...43471.html

Gman, she said she wasn't happy you left California and stopped paying the higher taxes.

Yeah, this is excessive. But don't let the oligarchs distract you with outliers. The average California pension is 25k.

http://www.calpersresponds.com/pension-m...-facts.php

I think a Goldman-Sachs parasite who skims off biz deals and gets 50M bonuses is more problematic.

Their average salaries look to be about 500k. Do they make a single widget for anybody?

http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/15/news/com...s.fortune/

haha I find it funny you take an excessive government retirement package and put the blame on Wallstreet. Kudos...

Basically you are saying it is ok she is getting 400k a year for life from a bankrupt state because Wallstreet is full of crooks.

Post: #53

(03-26-2013 09:22 PM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  [
Basically you are saying it is ok she is getting 400k a year for life from a bankrupt state because Wallstreet is full of crooks.

No, I agree 400k is an excessive pension.

California is not bankrupt, we recently voted to increase taxes and the budget is about balanced now. California's pension fund
has about 256.1 Billion in thousands of diversified worldwide companies. I've examined the list of investments, it's like 200 pages.

http://www.calpers.ca.gov

Pension grabbers howl how it's not enough, but compared to Social Security which Congress has been looting for decades ( has zero saved up as far as I know) we in California have been the savers regarding our pensions. We not only save for our pensions, but give a lot of money to Red States too.


In fact, we blue states subsidize the "independent, conservative" states to the tune of about 50 Billion a year.

Cuz we're smarter and pay more taxes.

I can see why haters get worked up:
California is the biggest in population, the biggest economy by FAR-- our economy is the 8th largest in THE WORLD ( if CA was a country).
it's 1/8 of the whole economy of the USA. Bankrupt? Employment is easier in some other states right now, true; but the country
would be quite fucked if it lost all this tax income.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_California

It's hilarious how people are so brainwashed they applaud the slime that skim 50 million dollar bonuses off the top of the economy in the misguided hope they will someday be appointed thieves as well. Those million dollar jobs are right around the corner, like in an Arthur Miller play. Just keep plugging along.

Post: #54

My experience is targeted toward the younger crowd (I'm 25). I went through a couple awful 6-month stints at terrible jobs before finally catching the 'job of my dreams' in DC when I was 23. Based on what my friends and colleagues were telling me about their government positions, my budgeting position was one of the more engaging, challenging jobs the federal government provided. Budget news from Congress could keep you in the office late, new projects sometimes needed creative thinking to be funded, etc. In the beginning, I was busting my ass for recognition and out of necessity to get my work done.

The pay, vacation time, SICK TIME, lunch, and ability to work from home are great. I really don't think you are going to find a private sector employer who pays you as well while providing that many benefits. One year in, I was making over $50K and taking mini vacations all over the place. My poor roommate was making $35K at a private sector office job, getting home after 8pm, and being forced to go into work with pneumonia so would have enough vacation time to visit his family in Boston during the holidays. I was almost ashamed at how much better I had it.

That aside, this easy life can break your spirit. Even if you have the best work ethic out there, it's incredibly hard not to slack off. You find shortcuts to getting your work done and you implement them to extreme efficiency. You look around and see people who get paid more than you dicking around on youtube all day, and you hate them for being pieces of shit. Soon you realize that you are getting paid no matter what as long as you are in the office for 40 hours. There are no incentives to work your hardest. Even if have great hobbies and goals outside of work, work still takes up 40 hours a week by law - it's alot of your time. It became painful and I looked for more and more ways to lessen my time in my cube, and to make the hours I did have to stay pass as quickly as possible. I became one of those assholes watching stand up comedy specials on youtube all day. I wanted to get the fuck out of there and get back to my real life and goals. Work ended up being nothing more than a really annoying obstacle in my life. l I quit after two years and went to NJ to start my own biz.

For those considering a government job: Would you trade 40 hours of your life every week and all of your dreams in exchange for an easy schedule, good pay, and comical amounts of time off? If the answer is yes, get on usajobs.gov right now and start applying to everything you see.

Post: #55

(03-03-2013 06:09 PM)w00t Wrote:  Why not start your own online business or do some online freelancing. Then you are the master of your own life 7 days a week and not only 3.
I'd rather set myself on fire and run through a dynamite factory then sit 30-40 hours a week in some government agency and push papers.

How many days/hours per week does it take to make 120k doing that?

Post: #56

(03-27-2013 08:53 AM)americanbk Wrote:  My experience is targeted toward the younger crowd (I'm 25). I went through a couple awful 6-month stints at terrible jobs before finally catching the 'job of my dreams' in DC when I was 23. Based on what my friends and colleagues were telling me about their government positions, my budgeting position was one of the more engaging, challenging jobs the federal government provided. Budget news from Congress could keep you in the office late, new projects sometimes needed creative thinking to be funded, etc. In the beginning, I was busting my ass for recognition and out of necessity to get my work done.

The pay, vacation time, SICK TIME, lunch, and ability to work from home are great. I really don't think you are going to find a private sector employer who pays you as well while providing that many benefits. One year in, I was making over $50K and taking mini vacations all over the place. My poor roommate was making $35K at a private sector office job, getting home after 8pm, and being forced to go into work with pneumonia so would have enough vacation time to visit his family in Boston during the holidays. I was almost ashamed at how much better I had it.

That aside, this easy life can break your spirit. Even if you have the best work ethic out there, it's incredibly hard not to slack off. You find shortcuts to getting your work done and you implement them to extreme efficiency. You look around and see people who get paid more than you dicking around on youtube all day, and you hate them for being pieces of shit. Soon you realize that you are getting paid no matter what as long as you are in the office for 40 hours. There are no incentives to work your hardest. Even if have great hobbies and goals outside of work, work still takes up 40 hours a week by law - it's alot of your time. It became painful and I looked for more and more ways to lessen my time in my cube, and to make the hours I did have to stay pass as quickly as possible. I became one of those assholes watching stand up comedy specials on youtube all day. I wanted to get the fuck out of there and get back to my real life and goals. Work ended up being nothing more than a really annoying obstacle in my life. l I quit after two years and went to NJ to start my own biz.

For those considering a government job: Would you trade 40 hours of your life every week and all of your dreams in exchange for an easy schedule, good pay, and comical amounts of time off? If the answer is yes, get on usajobs.gov right now and start applying to everything you see.

Could you learn a language in your downtime at work, or write blog posts, or learn + do coding?

If you're watching youtube presumably you could do these things yeah?

Post: #57

(03-04-2013 11:55 PM)UrbanNerd Wrote:  

(03-04-2013 11:36 PM)pros80 Wrote:  40 hours a week and $150-$200K a year???? wow. But it looks like your experience adds up to 22 years so you must have paid your dues.

I lucked out. I was hired right out of college by a big company in Pittsburgh, PA. I then came to the DC area...moved to the Philly area and then back to the DC area. Still, it was those 14 years in the private sector that helped me because government-related work is slower paced, so doing work to impress government folks is much easier and less stressful.

I made my career moves for money. I never bought into the "pick a college major that you will like so you will have a job that you will like" mumbo-jumbo. If the job does not include playing golf...only to come back a sip rum-punches with some naked local chick in your shower....THEN IT IS WORK. My goal is to make all job/career moves to make the best money I can...so I can use that money for travel. As most DC guys (who travel) say..."you practice with the DC chicks and then go kill it somewhere else".

^^^This guy gets it. The word "job" is still part of "dream job". Unless my job was to bang disease free 19 year olds all day, there's going to be a part of it that's WORK. Work is a part of life, quit trying to avoid it. And remember, only so many decades ago was life 'alot' of work.

Post: #58

(03-30-2013 03:02 PM)nek Wrote:  ^^^This guy gets it. The word "job" is still part of "dream job". Unless my job was to bang disease free 19 year olds all day, there's going to be a part of it that's WORK. Work is a part of life, quit trying to avoid it. And remember, only so many decades ago was life 'alot' of work.

Are they hiring? I want that job!!!!

Post: #59

(03-03-2013 07:34 PM)MaleDefined Wrote:  Time. Time. Time.

What's the difference in working 80 hour weeks, with 2 weeks vacation, making 120k in corporate, or working 40-45 hours making 60k, having 4-14 weeks of vacation, and having time to travel, start a new business, or explore interests?

You CAN swallow the red pill and still work a civil service/government job. I hope some of the younger guys here realize this because I do think it gets lost in many of these conversations.

^^Smart post