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What is the best answer you have given/heard as to why you want to work for the gov?

"I like being poor."

"I want to leave at 5 and never get fired"

baal hadad wrote:"I want to leave at 5 and never get fired"

This and good benefits

Danger Zone wrote:

baal hadad wrote:"I want to leave at 5 and never get fired"

This and good benefits

And never have to worry about bringing in business.

And hopefully get loans paid off.

No billable hour

Justice, public service, some shit like that. It helps if you mean it too.

Not spending your first two years doing doc review.

So I'm a PMF moved to DC from out of area I literally have to formally request to work over 40 hours in a week or over 8.5 hours a day. I'm bored strongly considering picking up a second job. Bartending? maybe a casino dealer at the Maryland casinos up the road.

Fed attorney here in secondary city. Literally cannot work more than 40 hours a week without prior approval. Want to come in on the weekend? Too bad, agency servers aren't on and the floor is locked down so no one can enter. No keeping track of time aside from clocking out after 8.5 hours (including an hour lunch). Anytime I work over 40 hours during the week (after approval, which is freely given) gets converted to leave, and I can have up to 24 hours of this leave at anytime (and can replenish it as often as I want). That's on top of federal holidays/12 vacation days a year (20 days after 3 years of service) (we also had 6 snow days last year). Also, on track to make six figures in 3 years. Won't get higher than that without a promotion, but who cares when I'm guaranteed 6 figures from 30 til retirement, when TSP and pensions exist for when I retire, and when I'm not in NYC/Chicago/DC/insane place to live cost wise. Oh, I also can work from home 3-4 days a week. Also, people do shit on this sometimes, but you really do feel like you're helping out the public in your work.

Anonymous User wrote:Fed attorney here in secondary city. Literally cannot work more than 40 hours a week without prior approval. Want to come in on the weekend? Too bad, agency servers aren't on and the floor is locked down so no one can enter. No keeping track of time aside from clocking out after 8.5 hours (including an hour lunch). Anytime I work over 40 hours during the week (after approval, which is freely given) gets converted to leave, and I can have up to 24 hours of this leave at anytime (and can replenish it as often as I want). That's on top of federal holidays/12 vacation days a year (20 days after 3 years of service) (we also had 6 snow days last year). Also, on track to make six figures in 3 years. Won't get higher than that without a promotion, but who cares when I'm guaranteed 6 figures from 30 til retirement, when TSP and pensions exist for when I retire, and when I'm not in NYC/Chicago/DC/insane place to live cost wise. Oh, I also can work from home 3-4 days a week. Also, people do shit on this sometimes, but you really do feel like you're helping out the public in your work.

Do u ever feel you're a massive waste of taxes

Anonymous User wrote:Fed attorney here in secondary city. Literally cannot work more than 40 hours a week without prior approval. Want to come in on the weekend? Too bad, agency servers aren't on and the floor is locked down so no one can enter. No keeping track of time aside from clocking out after 8.5 hours (including an hour lunch). Anytime I work over 40 hours during the week (after approval, which is freely given) gets converted to leave, and I can have up to 24 hours of this leave at anytime (and can replenish it as often as I want). That's on top of federal holidays/12 vacation days a year (20 days after 3 years of service) (we also had 6 snow days last year). Also, on track to make six figures in 3 years. Won't get higher than that without a promotion, but who cares when I'm guaranteed 6 figures from 30 til retirement, when TSP and pensions exist for when I retire, and when I'm not in NYC/Chicago/DC/insane place to live cost wise. Oh, I also can work from home 3-4 days a week. Also, people do shit on this sometimes, but you really do feel like you're helping out the public in your work.

Chicago is actually inexpensive for a large city.

Anonymous User wrote:Fed attorney here in secondary city. Literally cannot work more than 40 hours a week without prior approval. Want to come in on the weekend? Too bad, agency servers aren't on and the floor is locked down so no one can enter. No keeping track of time aside from clocking out after 8.5 hours (including an hour lunch). Anytime I work over 40 hours during the week (after approval, which is freely given) gets converted to leave, and I can have up to 24 hours of this leave at anytime (and can replenish it as often as I want). That's on top of federal holidays/12 vacation days a year (20 days after 3 years of service) (we also had 6 snow days last year). Also, on track to make six figures in 3 years. Won't get higher than that without a promotion, but who cares when I'm guaranteed 6 figures from 30 til retirement, when TSP and pensions exist for when I retire, and when I'm not in NYC/Chicago/DC/insane place to live cost wise. Oh, I also can work from home 3-4 days a week. Also, people do shit on this sometimes, but you really do feel like you're helping out the public in your work.

I suspect the different Fed agencies differ in their treatment of hours and such. My dad isn't a lawyer, but he works for a Fed agency and telecommutes on nights or weekends all the time, and he goes over 40 hours sometimes. (But the nature of his Fed agency means that certain things have to be staffed 24/7, so even though HIS job doesn't need to be constantly manned, the agency doesn't just turn the lights and servers off on the weekends.)

i have to point out that in my experience, at least as an intern for the NYC city government, I've seen the attorneys work longer than 40 hours per week, coming in and working as much as the situation required. Definetely not biglaw hours or what i imagine intensity, but they worked hard and stayed late when they needed to. So I don't know how true the "clocking out at 5" thing is.
And ADAs work like crazy, but I guess thats a different animal altogether.

I certainly can clock out at 5 (and do), but I also have to get my work done when it needs to get done, so I usually stay later and sometimes a lot later (or work on the weekend). It's nothing like biglaw hours, but I definitely don't have to get approval to go over 40 hours (and any time over 40 sure doesn't convert to leave, I wish, lol). But I think my agency is different about this. Also, I think the feds are definitely different from the states.

So I have the title of being an attorney but really I'm not an attorney. It's fucking great benefits are great my loan payments on 250k are negligible and I'm making 75k+. Hours are 40 a week and I leave between 4 and 5 depending on what time I'm there in the morning. Also same as above person in that if I do work overtime it turns into leave or actual overtime compensation but paid out close to a 1:1 ratio (ie not time and a half).

As for why government service, I have the typical answer but I also was very well aware of te agency's specific mission and I really do believe in it and had prior experience during law school. We have some employees who work completely remotely from various parts of the country. And everyone else works from home once a week.

Anonymous User wrote:So I have the title of being an attorney but really I'm not an attorney. It's fucking great benefits are great my loan payments on 250k are negligible and I'm making 75k+. Hours are 40 a week and I leave between 4 and 5 depending on what time I'm there in the morning. Also same as above person in that if I do work overtime it turns into leave or actual overtime compensation but paid out close to a 1:1 ratio (ie not time and a half).

As for why government service, I have the typical answer but I also was very well aware of te agency's specific mission and I really do believe in it and had prior experience during law school. We have some employees who work completely remotely from various parts of the country. And everyone else works from home once a week.

are you worried that you might not have transferable skills if you want to move on, or are you in for the long haul at this agency?

A. Nony Mouse wrote:I certainly can clock out at 5 (and do), but I also have to get my work done when it needs to get done, so I usually stay later and sometimes a lot later (or work on the weekend). It's nothing like biglaw hours, but I definitely don't have to get approval to go over 40 hours (and any time over 40 sure doesn't convert to leave, I wish, lol). But I think my agency is different about this. Also, I think the feds are definitely different from the states.

Same with me, although I usually work until around 6:00-6:30 and on the weekends when the workload demands it and certainly don't need to get preapproval lol. Most people work around 50 hours or more when there is litigation. All the hours I work over 40 do turn into leave though, or overtime sometimes, so I have tons of leave. Also we have a maximum of one day per week of telework and most attorneys don't even do that unless they have young kids. I think government jobs really depend on the agency. Some are more stereotypically "government" than others and yes there is no comparison between most state government jobs (except in California) and federal jobs.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:So I have the title of being an attorney but really I'm not an attorney. It's fucking great benefits are great my loan payments on 250k are negligible and I'm making 75k+. Hours are 40 a week and I leave between 4 and 5 depending on what time I'm there in the morning. Also same as above person in that if I do work overtime it turns into leave or actual overtime compensation but paid out close to a 1:1 ratio (ie not time and a half).

As for why government service, I have the typical answer but I also was very well aware of te agency's specific mission and I really do believe in it and had prior experience during law school. We have some employees who work completely remotely from various parts of the country. And everyone else works from home once a week.

are you worried that you might not have transferable skills if you want to move on, or are you in for the long haul at this agency?

I was a little when I started but I am doing quasi legal work. A lot of research and writing and regulation/statute interpretation. Could easily be transferable to non-litigation position with another agency. Which is likely what I'll try to do in a few years in case I ever want to leave the public sector.

Anonymous User wrote:Fed attorney here in secondary city. Literally cannot work more than 40 hours a week without prior approval. Want to come in on the weekend? Too bad, agency servers aren't on and the floor is locked down so no one can enter. No keeping track of time aside from clocking out after 8.5 hours (including an hour lunch). Anytime I work over 40 hours during the week (after approval, which is freely given) gets converted to leave, and I can have up to 24 hours of this leave at anytime (and can replenish it as often as I want). That's on top of federal holidays/12 vacation days a year (20 days after 3 years of service) (we also had 6 snow days last year). Also, on track to make six figures in 3 years. Won't get higher than that without a promotion, but who cares when I'm guaranteed 6 figures from 30 til retirement, when TSP and pensions exist for when I retire, and when I'm not in NYC/Chicago/DC/insane place to live cost wise. Oh, I also can work from home 3-4 days a week. Also, people do shit on this sometimes, but you really do feel like you're helping out the public in your work.

Question about that: Can you get your 40 hours in across 3 days, and then take a 4 day vacation each and every weekend by using that time off (except fed holidays, in which case you would have a 5 days weekend, I guess)?

XxSpyKEx wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Fed attorney here in secondary city. Literally cannot work more than 40 hours a week without prior approval. Want to come in on the weekend? Too bad, agency servers aren't on and the floor is locked down so no one can enter. No keeping track of time aside from clocking out after 8.5 hours (including an hour lunch). Anytime I work over 40 hours during the week (after approval, which is freely given) gets converted to leave, and I can have up to 24 hours of this leave at anytime (and can replenish it as often as I want). That's on top of federal holidays/12 vacation days a year (20 days after 3 years of service) (we also had 6 snow days last year). Also, on track to make six figures in 3 years. Won't get higher than that without a promotion, but who cares when I'm guaranteed 6 figures from 30 til retirement, when TSP and pensions exist for when I retire, and when I'm not in NYC/Chicago/DC/insane place to live cost wise. Oh, I also can work from home 3-4 days a week. Also, people do shit on this sometimes, but you really do feel like you're helping out the public in your work.

Question about that: Can you get your 40 hours in across 3 days, and then take a 4 day vacation each and every weekend by using that time off (except fed holidays, in which case you would have a 5 days weekend, I guess)?

No. The closest to that is one of the allowed schedules that let's you have one day off every two weeks if you work 9 hours the remaining days in those two weeks. Few attorneys at my agency take advantage of this option since you miss important meetings by doing so etc. But it's very popular in other departments like HR.

Anonymous User wrote:

XxSpyKEx wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Fed attorney here in secondary city. Literally cannot work more than 40 hours a week without prior approval. Want to come in on the weekend? Too bad, agency servers aren't on and the floor is locked down so no one can enter. No keeping track of time aside from clocking out after 8.5 hours (including an hour lunch). Anytime I work over 40 hours during the week (after approval, which is freely given) gets converted to leave, and I can have up to 24 hours of this leave at anytime (and can replenish it as often as I want). That's on top of federal holidays/12 vacation days a year (20 days after 3 years of service) (we also had 6 snow days last year). Also, on track to make six figures in 3 years. Won't get higher than that without a promotion, but who cares when I'm guaranteed 6 figures from 30 til retirement, when TSP and pensions exist for when I retire, and when I'm not in NYC/Chicago/DC/insane place to live cost wise. Oh, I also can work from home 3-4 days a week. Also, people do shit on this sometimes, but you really do feel like you're helping out the public in your work.

Question about that: Can you get your 40 hours in across 3 days, and then take a 4 day vacation each and every weekend by using that time off (except fed holidays, in which case you would have a 5 days weekend, I guess)?

No. The closest to that is one of the allowed schedules that let's you have one day off every two weeks if you work 9 hours the remaining days in those two weeks. Few attorneys at my agency take advantage of this option since you miss important meetings by doing so etc. But it's very popular in other departments like HR.

Yup. You have to work your 40 hours over 5 days unless you do a 4-10 (4 10 hour days) or the one the previous poster talked about. And if you do one of those schedules, at least at my agency, you cant work over 40 hours in order to get extra leave.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

XxSpyKEx wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Fed attorney here in secondary city. Literally cannot work more than 40 hours a week without prior approval. Want to come in on the weekend? Too bad, agency servers aren't on and the floor is locked down so no one can enter. No keeping track of time aside from clocking out after 8.5 hours (including an hour lunch). Anytime I work over 40 hours during the week (after approval, which is freely given) gets converted to leave, and I can have up to 24 hours of this leave at anytime (and can replenish it as often as I want). That's on top of federal holidays/12 vacation days a year (20 days after 3 years of service) (we also had 6 snow days last year). Also, on track to make six figures in 3 years. Won't get higher than that without a promotion, but who cares when I'm guaranteed 6 figures from 30 til retirement, when TSP and pensions exist for when I retire, and when I'm not in NYC/Chicago/DC/insane place to live cost wise. Oh, I also can work from home 3-4 days a week. Also, people do shit on this sometimes, but you really do feel like you're helping out the public in your work.

Question about that: Can you get your 40 hours in across 3 days, and then take a 4 day vacation each and every weekend by using that time off (except fed holidays, in which case you would have a 5 days weekend, I guess)?

No. The closest to that is one of the allowed schedules that let's you have one day off every two weeks if you work 9 hours the remaining days in those two weeks. Few attorneys at my agency take advantage of this option since you miss important meetings by doing so etc. But it's very popular in other departments like HR.

Yup. You have to work your 40 hours over 5 days unless you do a 4-10 (4 10 hour days) or the one the previous poster talked about. And if you do one of those schedules, at least at my agency, you cant work over 40 hours in order to get extra leave.

So what are the absolute limits with the 24 hour overtime/leave bank (i.e. how frequently could you accrue and use that 24 hour bank)? For example, could you work an extra 24 hours and take 3 days off every 3rd week through the entirety of the year? (Yes, I'd use/abuse the shit out of that perk if I worked in fed gvt lol.)

That leave (called credit hours or comp time) gets used like added vacation time. You need to get your supervisor's approval to use it. Like any job in the private sector, your vacation time use has to be reasonable and not interfere with the agency or your cases. Your supervisor is not going to approve you taking three days off every third week. In fact, you can get an asshole supervisor who will give you a hard time about using any vacation. The one thing people in government actually do get fired for regularly is abusing the leave/time worked system. It's not like you're unfirable. Also, they will easily withhold your promotions if they are unhappy with your performance, even if you are getting your cases done, so have fun being stuck at GS-11. You also have to justify why you need to work overtime to your supervisor. At my agency, because there is so much work for attorneys, this rule is ignored if you are working up to around 50 hours a week and you do not need justification. However, if you are regularly working 24 hours overtime, you need to have enough work to justify it.

Anonymous User wrote:That leave (called credit hours or comp time) gets used like added vacation time. You need to get your supervisor's approval to use it. Like any job in the private sector, your vacation time use has to be reasonable and not interfere with the agency or your cases. Your supervisor is not going to approve you taking three days off every third week. In fact, you can get an asshole supervisor who will give you a hard time about using any vacation. The one thing people in government actually do get fired for regularly is abusing the leave/time worked system. It's not like you're unfirable. Also, they will easily withhold your promotions if they are unhappy with your performance, even if you are getting your cases done, so have fun being stuck at GS-11. You also have to justify why you need to work overtime to your supervisor. At my agency, because there is so much work for attorneys, this rule is ignored if you are working up to around 50 hours a week and you do not need justification. However, if you are regularly working 24 hours overtime, you need to have enough work to justify it.

Yea that sucks. The four 10 hour days sound a lot better, from this perspective.