To others working in the public sector.

I have to ask... does it ever get any better?

My wife and I both work in the public sector, as contractors. At the last place we both worked the same contract, and the COR was always threatening to call CID for no reason. Most of the other contractors just dumped their certs and were pretty much useless (if they did pass; one was infamous for failing his windows 7 exam 7 or 8 times).

Fast forward; we're both working different contracts now. From what I observe in mine and hear when she gripes about hers, nothing is any different. The people at mine brag about dumping their exams "I don't have to know what the question is asking, just which one is the answer". For hers, they don't even bother to get them.

Her contract has little/no actual responsibility: Monitor a bunch of servers. Contact someone else if one of the scripts reports a service down so they can fix it.

My contract is worse: Nobody seems to have any idea what work we're SUPPOSED to do, but since there ISN'T any work to do, it doesn't really matter. It's one of the reasons I've 59 credits at WGU this term with 9 weeks left in the term: I LITERALLY get to study 40 hours per week.

So to anyone else working in the public sector: Does it ever get any better? I'd hate to lose my clearance (The only reason I've been sticking at this one (besides getting to study full time) is that the clearance I'll get is pretty decent.

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Comments

fmitawaps

Tell us more. Of the certs you have, which ones were required to get the job? What was your official job description when you applied? How much do you make to do nothing special?

What is CID and COR?

bermovick

COR = Contracting Office Representative
CID = Criminal Investigation Division?
These may be Army specific; I'm not sure.

My current contract has a huge list of certifications, with Tier 1 required to have 5 of them and Tier 2 required to have 7. The certs include CCDA, VCP, LPIC-2 and MCSE:SI. (Despite not getting to do network design or having a windows server (AD,etc) infrastructure).

jjs1234

I work public but for a small city, way different than what you describe.

Everyone here is expected to pull their own weight. Oh and im not a contractor, a full fledged employee who had to swore an allegiance to California...

I also work with DOJ and PD officers.

I did use a **** to help pass my CCNA after studying for it for 6 months.

How much do you make to do nothing? Thats kinda how this govt is (Federal anyway).

bhcs2014

That's expected working for the government. Did you really expect things to be efficiently run or to be around hard working people? When there is an endless budget from stolen tax monies you can't be surprised

Codyy

To answer your question: Nope. The deeper your get into the public sector(i.e. GS civilians) the less performance based it is.

CCNTrainee

I'm Tier 1 on a defense contract myself, everything is similar to what I did when I was in Tech Control which involves a lot of calling other parties since so much is it our lane. What I have always heard on the management side of the bigger picture, you get paid more for less work...

dhay13

I'm Tier 3 for a federal gov't contract and we are all extremely busy, including the FTE's (full-time employees).

kiki162

As someone who has worked the contracting side, and is now working in the public sector...GET OUT now. Don't worry about your clearance. You have had it once, you can get it again if need be. In the meantime, take the downtime you both have to look elsewhere. I did a lot of the same stuff that you are doing now with your downtime. Finish out your degree, and anything else that you really want to get done before you jump outside of the government. The longer your stay at your job, the more aggravation, and "brain drain" your going to get.

Not sure what type of work you both do and what your background/skills are, but I can send you some job position information. My company has a lot of remote positions (work from home). If possible you can also consider moving. DMV (DC, MD, VA) area has a ton of IT positions. Send me a PM if you are interested.

TranceSoulBrother

- I have a DA civilian that works for me. She's a GS12 and can work hard when she wants but aggravates me so much that sometimes I want to kick her in the balls. So self-serving that's unbelievable. Government workers in the aggregate are worthless, because firing them is so hard that they milk that sanctuary

- some contractors are great, others are equally worthless and want to milk the government money for no return. That said, that COR is wrong for always threatening you with CID retribution. Get with your PM or supervisor and have a meeting with his boss. That's hostile work environment there.

TechGromit

TranceSoulBrother wrote: »

- I have a DA civilian that works for me. She's a GS12 and can work hard when she wants but aggravates me so much that sometimes I want to kick her in the balls. So self-serving that's unbelievable. Government workers in the aggregate are worthless, because firing them is so hard that they milk that sanctuary

I worked with both types. One guy was pissed that he got hired at a GS-7 rate instead of a GS-9, he spent an entire year showing up and doing absolutely nothing except work on his facebook page. What's worse is management actually gave him a cash award for the good job he was doing, they are sometimes so out of touch it's not funny. Another guy in the same group got hired at a GS-12 rate, he was sharp, motivated, put in a full days work and than some. Not everyone who works for the government is a worthless Piece of Sh**, but those that are give all government employees a bad rep.