Artanthos t1_jab1m7y wrote on February 28, 2023 at 3:22 AM

Reply to comment by newbureaucrat1 in Unsure about starting a federal career in DC by newbureaucrat1

>I'll be coming in at a GS5-1, with Excepted Schedule A service.. You think it's impossible for me to make GS10 by the time I'm in my early 30s?

It took me 7 years to go from GS5-1 to GS 12-1, with one change in job title.

What is they range for your position? My first position started at GS5 with promotions to GS6 and GS7 at one year intervals. I changed jobs within the same office to a job that had a pay scale range of GS7 to GS12 about 9 months into GS7, to early to get bumped to GS9 right away and had to wait another full year for that bump. After that I got annual promotions to 9 / 11 / 12, where I've been for a while. Positions above 12 don't open up that frequently and have a lot of competition. That said, GS12-4 hits 100k/year.

This is with a small agency, so I don't know how things will work for you. Worst case, build your resume, take all the free training you can get, and if your advancement stalls, keep an eye on usajobs.com It's usually fairly easy to get a lateral change with a higher promotion potential if you don't mind changing agencies once or twice and have good performance evaluations.

Don't burn bridges, stay on good terms with everyone, and network. People, especially senior people, network and people talk. Having a good reputation will go a long ways.

newbureaucrat1 OP t1_jab33c4 wrote on February 28, 2023 at 3:34 AM

Currently I'm on the same range. It caps out at 7, and I am not really sure how large or small federal offices can be. The new office is certainly larger than my current corporate office by a matter of degrees. I am unsure what opportunity there is for advancement, but one of the people on the panel did seem to be at GS8 or 9 after their years of service to the org.. so there could be some movement?

I'd be totally fine switching agencies, provided the right opportunity came up. I am unsure if I want to go through the TS process, but I am certain that the series I'm entering in on 0303 is very much a "foot in the door" billet. Like, you're in, now find something to do that isn't so generic.

What kind of free trainings could exist, broadly speaking? Do you mean leadership training, or would it be more like a cert to get someone into IT work? My absolute dream job (from my college days wargaming at GWU) would be to work in State at some small obscure desk (think.. Moldova, or Laos, or Algeria), but I am unsure what exactly could put someone in that position. Besides being in the USFS. It's a small dream, but it's something, the novelty I hink is what I find so appealing.

Ultimately, I know that I'd like to do some TDY rotations abroad, especially while I've still got some sight left, within my first couple years. Do those opportunities only really exist with the DoD?

Artanthos t1_jab80zt wrote on February 28, 2023 at 4:16 AM

>I am not really sure how large or small federal offices can be.

It's agency dependent. When I was Department of Labor, it was tiny cubicles for 11s and 12s.

With my current agency? You can tell how important someone is by the size and placement of their office. As a GS5 to GS7, my desk was in the hallway. When I changed job titles at GS7 I moved to an interior office. When I made GS11 I got a window office. My supervisor has an office 3x my offices size. My Director has a corner office 2x the size of my supervisors.

>I am unsure what opportunity there is for advancement

This is very agency dependent. But a foot in the door allows you to change agencies eventually.

>What kind of free trainings could exist, broadly speaking? Do you mean leadership training

Leadership training does exist, but also professional writing courses, online self-study, mental health, emotional health, general professional courses. Most last 2-3 days, some longer.

>My absolute dream job (from my college days wargaming at GWU) would be to work in State at some small obscure desk

I'm unsure what exactly they would be looking for. That said, I mentioned networking and training opportunities. I've taken classes at the state department once or twice, and that would be a good topic to bring up during a break. There are also occasional opportunities for detachments, where you temporarily work somewhere else to broaden your experience. Usually it's withing the same agency, but not always.