Board 8 > What's it like to work in a Non-Political government position?

(+) Yeah! (+)

The basic story here is that my school appears to have a scholarship program where the government pays Tuition/Room and Board (On top of a generous-looking stipend) for your last two years of school, and in exchange, you work for them in Security/Information Assurance for an equivalent amount of time.

Is there any reason not to jump on this as soon as I'm eligible for it as opposed to doing things the normal way and getting a job with a "normal" company (Probably Texas Instruments, in my case)? I mean, on one hand, it's paying my bills (Which isn't really an issue for me, since my parents are pretty generous, but it would save them the money, which is definitely a good thing), but on the other hand, it's the government. I'm not too terribly familiar with what goes into a government job, especially in this kind of field. Does anybody have a clue and would be willing to shed some light on it?

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They pay for your final two years of schooling and then guarantee you a job for two years? Seems like a great deal to me.

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IA blows but you will pretty much always have a job

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From: PartOfYourWorld | #002
They pay for your final two years of schooling and then guarantee you a job for two years? Seems like a great deal to me.

Yeah, that was my first reaction, as well as my parents' first reactions. I figured I'd ask around a bit to see what other people thought, but I'm pretty strongly leaning in favor of going for this.

From: neonreap | #003
IA blows but you will pretty much always have a job

'oh'

The reason I got into Computer Science to begin with was because I enjoy computers and I like coding a lot. IA isn't exactly that, but as far as I know, it's pretty related, even if it's not actually the same.

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Non-Political government position?

That's a lot of long words for civil service.

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You'll get paid an ass-load of money for doing virtually no work. Also it's pretty much impossible to get fired.

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From: Phase | #005
Non-Political government position?

That's a lot of long words for civil service.

That phrase didn't exactly come to mind. I think it's with the NSA/DOD so I'm not even sure that falls under that <_<

hell, I looked at the scholarship form and there was an option for "Would you rather substitute active duty military service for your work"

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Well, the canadian government job I worked at was heavily regulated, but otherwise not much different from any other job.

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Unless you think there's a good chance you could get an offer from a place like Google or Facebook right out of school, it's probably a good deal. Just look into IA to make sure you won't be miserable for those two years (I don't know anything about the field myself).

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a LOT of beauracracy

ridiculous job security though

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Would you rather substitute active duty military service for your work"



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From: SmartMuffin | #011
Would you rather substitute active duty military service for your work"

I have no interest in serving in the military. Love the guys to death for going out there and doing it when called upon, but it's not for me <_<

Bureaucracy isn't exactly my thing either, but job security is incredibly nice if it's something I want to stick with.

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also don't expect a high pace work environment, if that's what you want, the gov is not for you

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If by "high pace" you mean "You're worked to the bone from the second you punch in to the second you punch out" I can't imagine anybody wanting that.

If by "high pace" you mean "there's usually something to be done somewhere" then that's something I think I could go either way with. I'd kind of expect the government to not really be like that, though, with all the red tape.

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SmartMuffin posted...
You'll get paid an ass-load of money for doing virtually no work. Also it's pretty much impossible to get fired unless somebody has it in for you or is afraid you might know something about how they bought their way into a management position, in which case you can expect them to set you up so they can fire you.

Fixed that for you.

it sounds like you want to go into the commercial market, where you will literally be worked to the bone on and off the clock (woo salaried positions)

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