[academia_hack]

In terms of benefits, here's an anecdotal comparison with a senior engineer (5-10 years experience) at a mid-level start up I worked at.

* Federal Pay (GS-12): $100,000 * Startup Pay: $150 base + $25 k bonus + equity

* Federal Health Insurance (United mid-tier plan, no family): $2,500/year * Startup Insurance (United mid-tier plan, no family): $0/year

* Federal Leave: 20 days (after 4 years in federal government) * Startup Leave: Unlimited

* Federal Sick Leave: 13 days * Startup Sick Leave: Unlimited

The pension I'm talking about actually isn't the TSP (which is fine, but slightly more expensive than comparable Vanguard funds).

All federal employees must contribute 4.4% of their salary to the FERS now which is taken out of their base pay just like their health/dental/fegli. It used to be 0.8% but congress gutted it a few years ago.

FERS takes decades before it's more than pocket change and the same money invested in the market would yield higher expected returns without requiring you to work 20 years in gov to benefit from it.

[niij]

I'm following you on pay. But to act like "unlimited" pto or vacation time is a good benefit is a joke. Unlimited, to me, is 365 days off per year.

[academia_hack]

True that! I use probably 15 days of "unlimited" leave and still manage to feel guilty about it.

The frustrating thing for people in fed jobs is that if you hit your 13 days that's it (during your first 3 years in government). It can be impossible to get PTO until you build up hours again. You have to either quit, negotiate LWOP (often seen as a performance adverse metric on your record), or work. So if you land a sweet concert ticket, see a flight deal, have a friend get married, etc. you better hope you've banked up the leave for it. Since you gain hours every 2 weeks (4, 6 or 8 depending on service) you also start out in government with virtually no leave and can't actually take a 2 week trip until you've been there almost a full year.