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Comment by vostok | Hacker News Reader

It's not bad if you're just comparing base salaries, but it's hundreds of thousands lower than quite a few private sector jobs if you compare total compensation.

Of course given the compensation and maximum length of tenure I imagine that most people are not doing it for the money.

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Woah, in all seriousness please let me know where $161k + great benefits is "hundreds of thousands" lower than similar private sector SWE jobs in total comp. I will be applying today. (I'm obviously assuming you're not comparing compensation for a swe at 18F with head of BeyondCorp or something, because that would be disingenuous and you seem like a reasonable person)

"hundreds of thousands" is a bit of a stretch, but SWE w/security clearance at a small outfit will net you significantly more. Lots of tiny PO Box'd contractors around DC.

Funny, in 15 years as a SwE with a clearance (not in DC) I never broke $100k total comp.

Also, "hundreds of thousands" is a gross exaggeration. Most software engineers nationwide don't make that to begin with.

> SwE with a clearance (not in DC) I never broke $100k total comp

YMMV of course, but even without a clearance you are selling yourself short here.

I wasn't selling myself anything. I could barely get non-government contractors to even give me an interview, and nobody in the government space offered me anywhere near that much. I managed to get to $95k via same-company salary progression before I escaped to the private sector (and a better metro area).

You can use Facebook's annual report to find that the average annual stock based compensation at Facebook is around $188k. That's real, liquid stock that you can turn around and sell. It's not monopoly money. Add salary and bonus and you're well over $300k in total compensation.

Is it hard to believe that some are going to be hitting more than $200k above the 18F numbers?

Note that we're comparing the absolute max for GS employees to the average at Facebook.

> Is it hard to believe that some are going to be hitting more than $200k above the 18F numbers?

"Some people at Facebook" is a much smaller set than "quite a few private sector jobs", which the statement GP was responding to.

Some people at Facebook can be extended to some people at other companies too. I specifically picked a large, visible example where the information is publicly available.

Perhaps GP misread "quite a few private sector jobs" as "most private sector jobs"?

Can you give an example? For a GS-15 Making max salary, which is 164K. That is the base. It goes up quite a bit if you include 5% 401k match and retirement. So the total compensation is quite more than just 164K.

So what's total comp as a GS-15? At megacorp I was making a bit more than $164k, but total comp worked out to over $210k.

I've commented on the who's hiring thread about the US Digital Service's post. GS-15 base pay doesn't seem so bad, but drug testing, no relocation stipend (work from DC only), and no bonuses were all pretty big black marks.

I work at 18F. I have never been drug-tested. It's not a requirement for the job.

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