With sequester cuts coming is it worth looking for IT jobs for the Federal Gverment ?

All,
With sequester cuts coming is it worth looking for IT jobs for the Federal Gverment vs the private sector ?
Let me know what you think ?

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Iristheangel

Yes because the reality is that there is a very low likelihood of sequester cuts actually affecting things like the defense budget even though it's on the table. Democrat or Republican, it doesn't matter... they'll cut social programs and discretionary spending first which usually isn't IT. It just depends on where you are going in the federal government. I wouldn't recommend being the IT guy for the Post Office or anything like that but if you get hired by the Pentagon, NSA, etc, you'll be just fine.

TeKniques

Agreed. The whole thing is a charade anyways. It's a 2.4% cut from a total unreal budget of 3.6 trillion dollars. Think of it this way -- if you had a budget of $100 to spend on groceries and you had to cut 2.4% out of that; how much would it really affect you?

ptilsen

I would not let the sequester impact a decision on industry. The chances of applying, interviewing, and getting hired for an opening that is eliminated with the next week are unlikely.

Sirbloody

I am currently a contractor for DHS and so far we have nothing to worry about.

shodown

A few of my projects in the federal sector have been stopped dead in there tracks. I have one where they actually purchased the equipment and its just setting in a warehouse, another where they rushed us to get it done before this happens and others who just said come back next year. So yes this is very real. However still apply for jobs is so close to happening they should know which positions are funded and which aren't.

RanMic

I currently work in the DOD and at his point there is a hiring freeze for all non-essential positions. So it will be kinda hard to get in right now away. But things will work out as they always do, so keep applying if that is what you want. Private sector will pay more most of the time but the Govt gig is not too bad either. Both sides of the fence has its pro's and con's.

kiki162

I work the government as well. They tell us that we here should be fine. Keep in mind that this is going to be over the course of a few years, so it may be a while if at all that we get affected. There's a LOT of discretionary spending out there that they can cut from budget wise. At this point, I'd stay away from any type of government contractor positions, as those would be more toward the top of the list of getting cut. Any Excepted Service type of position are the easiest to get into, unless you have military preference. With prior military service, you get extra points when applying for any GS/Competitive Service based positions. Hope that helps. We are all on watch here as well.

Valsacar

kiki162 wrote: »

I work the government as well. They tell us that we here should be fine. Keep in mind that this is going to be over the course of a few years, so it may be a while if at all that we get affected. There's a LOT of discretionary spending out there that they can cut from budget wise. At this point, I'd stay away from any type of government contractor positions, as those would be more toward the top of the list of getting cut. Any Excepted Service type of position are the easiest to get into, unless you have military preference. With prior military service, you get extra points when applying for any GS/Competitive Service based positions. Hope that helps. We are all on watch here as well.

I'd say the exact opposite. The only people in my organization that are worried are the GS, not the contractors. With the state of the governments IT they can't do it on their own, and they know it. 5-10 years later, if they get their act together, that might be different but not now. Only effect it's had on our contractors is getting paper and ink for the printer.

zrockstar

You probably see GS workers worried because there is A LOT of dead weight in the GS sector that don't like people sniffing around and discovering what they actually do on a daily basis for 120k a year. That being said, I wouldn't worry about taking a job with the government at all. Even if you do and your position goes away, being a displaced federal worker is one of the best gigs you can have (besides a secure job of course).

N2IT

From everything I have read, it all points to the GS employees and not the contractors.

Hypntick

Yeah the GS folks are pretty well hosed. My mother is GS and is looking at a $700 a month loss to her overall pay, and considering her GS level, that's a pretty hefty chunk of money for her.

coty24

I work as a contractor AND I'm on the mil side. GS are the ones that are worried. Contractors will be funded up to the expiration date of the contract, so if my contract comes up for renewal/end in 2015 then generally in good till then.

RanMic

zrockstar wrote: »

You probably see GS workers worried because there is A LOT of dead weight in the GS sector that don't like people sniffing around and discovering what they actually do on a daily basis for 120k a year. That being said, I wouldn't worry about taking a job with the government at all. Even if you do and your position goes away, being a displaced federal worker is one of the best gigs you can have (besides a secure job of course).

I like the way you churched up your 120K number. I work at a facility with close to 4K GS workers and 99% of them make 95K or less. So take 95K subtract 22 possible non paid days between now and Oct1 and you're looking at over an 8K loss and that puts you at 87K. Remeber that I said 99% or less make 95K.....but the fact is MOST of that 99% makes less than 70K a year. Yes, there is some dead weight in the Govt as there is everywehre, but it doesnt make me any happier to lose that much money this year when I have a family to support.

nosoup4u

True as that my be, the private sectors has been dealing with this stuff since 2008, no raises, layoffs, furloughs ect.

N2IT

If the money goes to the national debt I am fine with it.

If it goes to entitlements then I am disgusted.

RanMic

N2IT wrote: »

If the money goes to the national debt I am fine with it.

If it goes to entitlements then I am disgusted.

That I can agree with. If my loss in pay goes towards making the country more financially sound, then I'm ok with it. But I really feel that we will loose money and nothing will change....and before anyone ask, yes I am considering leaving the govt sector for private and yes I know it can be just as hard there too.

shodown

Not to turn this into a political debate, but when you speak of "entitlements" what entitlements do you speak off? I won't respond in this thread to throw off the topic at hand, just curious.

blargoe

nosoup4u wrote: »

True as that my be, the private sectors has been dealing with this stuff since 2008, no raises, layoffs, furloughs ect.

True dat.

Mrock4

Not ALL private sector has gone through this, it's really unfair to make a blanket statement like that- it ultimately depends on how the company has dealt with changing market conditions. My company's sales, raises, and bonuses have all increased steadily for the past 10 years- every year. Granted they may be the exception, but the point is it's not a guarantee that a private company has been affected equally due to market conditions..it really depends on the management and overall direction of the company.

I highly recommend Jim Collin's "Good to great" which specifically talks about the differences between a "Great" company and a "good one" during rough market conditions.

Valsacar

I think we got 1 annual raise in the last 3 years (not counting promotions), but each year we didn't get a raise we got a bonus of 1-3k so it sort of balances out.

tpatt100

shodown wrote: »

Not to turn this into a political debate, but when you speak of "entitlements" what entitlements do you speak off? I won't respond in this thread to throw off the topic at hand, just curious.

Probably stuff like food stamps,because food stamps are such good living lol.....

Veterans benefits are usually off limits but I read a bipartisan report that said pensions and other benefits are not sustainable, well duh... I figure let me know if you are cutting my veteran benefits now rather than later.

tpatt100

When I was working as a contractor and there was talk of cuts programs that were being looked at caused us delays for billing hours. It was a mess because the company had gotten used to massive funds from two wars and they hired a ton of people. It was hellish going to work during that time.

ptilsen

This thread was just asking to get out of hand and moderated from the start.

...mods are asleep, post politics.

In seriousness, I really wouldn't worry as far as IT employment goes. This field has an enormous shortage. Any serious economist, regardless of left or right leanings, will tell you that overwhelming market forces transcend policy. If you lose your government job or are given reason to switch because of the sequester, there are other jobs in this field. At the end of the day, none of us is going to starve.

N2IT

Entitlement Program means any Government program that requires payment to anyone
who meets specific qualifications that was made up by some government committee;
those who qualify are thus ‘entitled' to the payments. Social Security,
Medicare, food stamps, etc. are entitlement programs. (Taken from some website)

Other social programs to add to your list.

United States Government Entitlement Programs:
529 or Coverdell
Home Mortgage Interest Deduction
Hope or Lifetime Learning Tax CreditStudent LoansChild and Dependent Care Tax Credit
Earned Income Tax Credit
Social Security--Retirement & Survivors
Pell Grants
Unemployment Insurance
Veterans Benefits
G.I. Bill
Medicare
Head Start
Social Security Disability
SSI--Supplemental Security Income
Medicaid
Welfare/Public Assistance
Government Subsidized Housing
Food Stamps

While social programs are neat and all, I would rather fix the problem and take care of our DEBTS.

But hey what do I know a fiscally responsible middle class tax payer.

Iristheangel

As I said about, I'm not going to argue about politics. This isn't the politics forums and it's going to get ugly fast. Peace out.

shodown

Sorry for adding to the fire of this thread. However I live in the DMV so I'm always curious to how others view the country. I work with a lot of think tanks and political customers (right and left) and married to a economist. So this is part of my daily life

zrockstar

RanMic wrote: »

I like the way you churched up your 120K number. I work at a facility with close to 4K GS workers and 99% of them make 95K or less. So take 95K subtract 22 possible non paid days between now and Oct1 and you're looking at over an 8K loss and that puts you at 87K. Remeber that I said 99% or less make 95K.....but the fact is MOST of that 99% makes less than 70K a year. Yes, there is some dead weight in the Govt as there is everywehre, but it doesnt make me any happier to lose that much money this year when I have a family to support.

Yeah I hear you man. Sure that 120K number is inflated, but with locality, step, and OT, you can have 11s and 12s breaking the 100k mark fairly easily. I know it sucks that hard working GS folks have to face these sort of cuts, but my whole point is that government budget (manpower wise) is way out of hand because it is next to impossible to eliminate people in 100k positions that don't know their ass from a hole in the ground. I used to work with a GS11 who was hired as a programmer, couldn't program, so they put him updating SharePoint pages through the WYSIWYG. Then you get the attitude, of "Hey if they are going to pay me 90k to drag and drop a few things, I'm never moving!" And then they stay there until they retire, and the gov has to hire someone to do the job they were originally hired for, so now you have 200k in programming manpower and getting 1 person's worth of programming. If they actually went through and eliminated positions and cut some of the dead weight like they said they were going to do in 2011, then you wouldn't have everyone losing out, just the people that deserve it.

forestgiant

zrockstar wrote: »

next to impossible to eliminate people in 100k positions that don't know their ass from a hole in the ground.

best quote I've read in a long time. Very graphic, but it's a truism in the private industries as well.

galed

nosoup4u wrote: »

True as that my be, the private sectors has been dealing with this stuff since 2008, no raises, layoffs, furloughs ect.

My mother works for the IRS they have had a pay freeze for years now so they have been dealing with a bit of this already.

instant000

To the OP:

It's still worth looking for IT jobs, but you might want to be realistic about it. Don't only look to target government IT jobs, for example. They can be seen as a viable option, since many of them may be limited to US citizens. Cybersecurity is projected to grow, and the cybersecurity workforce is going to be apparently "professionalized" if you read all the propaganda. You could or could not have a future in the government. In the meantime, work hard and get experience.

Just to be clear, there is no golden ticket. Hard work and dedication are required to be the best, no matter what you wind up doing, or whoever your customer is one day.

tpatt100 wrote: »

... the company had gotten used to massive funds from two wars ...

And, as far as the whole thing of "war money" it's actually kind of warped. It's the "broken window fallacy".

Whenever someone wants to go to war, the first question you should ask is who is going to make money from this. Answering that question will provide the true reason behind lots of things.

In case you're wondering, I don't wear a tin foil hat ... yet.