24 ms·
You wouldn't get hired at GS-15 as a new hire. You might reach that after 20-30 years, and you'll need to get a Ph.D. Also, DC Metro is an extremely high CoL
by paulmd 5y ago
You wouldn't get hired at GS-15 as a new hire. You might reach that after 20-30 years, and you'll need to get a Ph.D.
Also, DC Metro is an extremely high CoL area (not SF levels but probably around Seattle levels). Normal GS-15 pay is $112k-146k and you'd trend towards the bottom of that in most areas.
So, $112k average at the peak of your career, with a required Ph.D. More realistically as a new hire you might be GS-12 (which only takes a master's) which is $68k-89k, so you make $68k in most areas. That's certainly not great as far as competitiveness with tech salaries, that's pretty close to the bottom of the market these days for a new hire working entirely remote, not even highly-desirable talent.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- onaworkcomputer 5y agoUSDS may only get away with this because their roles are term-limited excepted service, but pretty much everyone comes in as a GS-15-10, regardless of education.
- devman0 5y agoAlso the Executive Office of the President can get away with a lot of things offering special incentives and pay rates and what not, but they can't go above the GS 15 step 10 cap for non SES/ES employees because that is statutory.
- nmeagent 5y agoYou do not require a masters for a GS-12. Many entry-level engineering positions (hard or soft) have a target grade of GS-12, so if you do your job at all you'll be there in a few years. If you're even slightly serious you'd likely snag a GS-13 position within 5-10 years. If you're in a low-COL area, ~110k is reasonably competitive. Also keep in mind that you're working 40-hour weeks -- none of this exploitative 60+-hour week death march nonsense.