The salary is not as good as you can get elsewhere, but it's pretty good compared to most careers still. There is also the additional benefits of the pension s

The salary is not as good as you can get elsewhere, but it's pretty good compared to most careers still. There is also the additional benefits of the pension system if you are directly under the federal government and liberal days off/remote work when snow hits (the federal government has shut down with 0" of snow in the past in anticipation of snowstorms, and sometimes even with 1" of snow). On the contracting side you can make a lot of money though - it is not unheard of for developers to make over $150k, and combined with the cost of living of the region, one can live pretty comfortably. Miserable, boring work is all in the eye of the beholder - there is a lot of work that many here on HN do that some others would consider boring, even in the startup world. Even companies such as Facebook or Google also have boring work.