I’d like to see this across all federal agencies. I grew up under the impression being a freddi was the sure fire way to a kush thing. I did the navy, then got a degree. Went forest service to work with plants. Job was great didn’t pay shit, but I got to walk around Flagstaff, Grand Canyon, Sedona all summer looking for plants. I loved the job, but I was wrong about federal jobs being “good” jobs. There were basically no benefits and no path towards a career position (or at least, it requires a surprising amount of “putting your time in” with no guarantees whatsoever and shit pay for seasonal jobs.)
Then I did USDA after that in a research position. Again, it didn’t pay shit but at least it wasn’t seasonal. But again, it’s like, whatever the federal service had been before it was a pale comparison. Should have been a steady Eddy thing with a guaranteed pension but the “good federal job” thing had died long before my time. And there was just no clear path to a career possition.
I took one more crack and did park service, and maybe it was just my experience, but that was the absolute worst. I’ve never had a set of supervisors with heads so far up their own ass and with politics (small p, work place and agency level politics) being so dominant to how to make progress in an organization. Leadership treated everything like it was something you were “lucky” and privileged to be a part of. Like yeah I’m super lucky to have to bushwack through for hours, manually treating beastmode invasives because no power tools, with a permanent case of poison oak so bad I couldn’t even get my calves into my pantlegs.
And it’s like yeah, sure, but also these jobs don’t pay shit for the level of experience and education they require. And yet again, teh feds abuse these seasonal positions while geriatrics hold onto the career jobs well into their 60s and 70s. There was just no laces for young people to grab ahold of the ladder.
Ended up going private industry and making almost 3x what I had been making in federal service starting, and only up from there. I really wanted to stay freddie, but I just couldn’t make it work for how little they are willing to pay, and with everything being temp or term, it just felt like a waste of time with no clear path to advancement.
Hopefully a union can help this, but it really, really needs to cover term and seasonal positions. Those are utterly abused by the agencies.
I have a lot of familiarity with the United States postal service. Federal-adjacent, really, but quite similar. Same story with seasonal work and putting your time in—2+ years in most positions before you’re “career.”
My experience has been that the managerial class has far too much power. Every decision is made from the top down, so far removed from the actual work that it’s difficult to see the point, and filtered through so many additional lackeys who leech financial resources but are only expected to be mouthpieces for their bosses, and can’t answer questions or respond to situations as they arise without ignoring it or running it back up the ladder. The only thing that matters is that you hit various efficiency metrics, often to the detriment of the actual work in front of you, and that you look like you’re struggling to keep up. Revenue limitations are an issue, sure, but it’s very obvious when money’s being wasted on employees who stand in the way of getting work done in a dignified manner.
I’d like to see this across all federal agencies. I grew up under the impression being a freddi was the sure fire way to a kush thing. I did the navy, then got a degree. Went forest service to work with plants. Job was great didn’t pay shit, but I got to walk around Flagstaff, Grand Canyon, Sedona all summer looking for plants. I loved the job, but I was wrong about federal jobs being “good” jobs. There were basically no benefits and no path towards a career position (or at least, it requires a surprising amount of “putting your time in” with no guarantees whatsoever and shit pay for seasonal jobs.)
Then I did USDA after that in a research position. Again, it didn’t pay shit but at least it wasn’t seasonal. But again, it’s like, whatever the federal service had been before it was a pale comparison. Should have been a steady Eddy thing with a guaranteed pension but the “good federal job” thing had died long before my time. And there was just no clear path to a career possition.
I took one more crack and did park service, and maybe it was just my experience, but that was the absolute worst. I’ve never had a set of supervisors with heads so far up their own ass and with politics (small p, work place and agency level politics) being so dominant to how to make progress in an organization. Leadership treated everything like it was something you were “lucky” and privileged to be a part of. Like yeah I’m super lucky to have to bushwack through for hours, manually treating beastmode invasives because no power tools, with a permanent case of poison oak so bad I couldn’t even get my calves into my pantlegs.
And it’s like yeah, sure, but also these jobs don’t pay shit for the level of experience and education they require. And yet again, teh feds abuse these seasonal positions while geriatrics hold onto the career jobs well into their 60s and 70s. There was just no laces for young people to grab ahold of the ladder.
Ended up going private industry and making almost 3x what I had been making in federal service starting, and only up from there. I really wanted to stay freddie, but I just couldn’t make it work for how little they are willing to pay, and with everything being temp or term, it just felt like a waste of time with no clear path to advancement.
Hopefully a union can help this, but it really, really needs to cover term and seasonal positions. Those are utterly abused by the agencies.
I have a lot of familiarity with the United States postal service. Federal-adjacent, really, but quite similar. Same story with seasonal work and putting your time in—2+ years in most positions before you’re “career.”
My experience has been that the managerial class has far too much power. Every decision is made from the top down, so far removed from the actual work that it’s difficult to see the point, and filtered through so many additional lackeys who leech financial resources but are only expected to be mouthpieces for their bosses, and can’t answer questions or respond to situations as they arise without ignoring it or running it back up the ladder. The only thing that matters is that you hit various efficiency metrics, often to the detriment of the actual work in front of you, and that you look like you’re struggling to keep up. Revenue limitations are an issue, sure, but it’s very obvious when money’s being wasted on employees who stand in the way of getting work done in a dignified manner.