Contract =/= gov't. The way to make money working for the gov't is to get an established company to price gouge them through contracts so you can make a living

Contract =/= gov't. The way to make money working for the gov't is to get an established company to price gouge them through contracts so you can make a living wage. The gov't is wasting a huge amount of money paying a 100% premium for engineers because they aren't allowed to pay what the market demands. A "data entry specialist" and PhD scientist are paid off the same pay scale at different levels, which is great for equality but kind of difficult when you are trying to pay $31k (which is what someone with a BS in CompSci would get, GS-5) for someone who is going for $150k. If you have experience or a master's, they'll pay you $51k. It's absurdist. The GS scale caps out at $143k at GS-15 and requires a PhD and probably decades of work.