>I was a temporary GS-6 technician in the early '90s. That wasn't so good. It also wasn't programming. Wages may have improved since then. I don't know whether the high-paying jobs you hear about are all that common in Dallas. Certainly those jobs would be much more high-pressure. It's hard for me to imagine staying in one place long enough to get that 8 hours annual leave per pay period.

If I was not a GS-13, I would have left a while ago. The pay at that level is quite good.

>Government offices are often prevented from keeping up with current technologies by limited budgets or perhaps by hidebound division chiefs. Their employees are then denied the chance to learn marketable skills. I left NOAA in 1992 knowing only FORTRAN. You are being allowed to maintain big systems using VFP, so it isn't a problem for you, I suppose.

This is very true. We have been able to reasonably keep up with technology, but only because of the level of expertise we have here in our regional office. While about 60% of our staff lags behind in desktop PC power [still running pentium 133mHz or 200mHz computers], we are fairly current in latest software releases.

>I live in "Federal government land" but it hasn't even occurred to me to look for a federal job. When it's time to move on, I expect to stay in the private sector, which is an especially hot market here. Even government contractors like NNS are less than ideal, because they tend to be "government-like", being full of former government workers (or navy men in our case) working exclusively on government contracts. My dim memories of the federal recruitment process are not that pleasant either.

I believe we are a fairly unique office in that our management makes a reasonable commitment to our infrastructure and other IT needs. We do suffer from budget constraints, but at least most areas suffer equally. The only program flush with money is Superfund which gets separate funding from Congress.

>I suppose that if I want to bellyache anymore I should take it private.

No need to go private. While off the original topic, this is a discussion of VFP/other career opportunities and considerations. Every employer is different in their philosophies and styles. Working conditions differ as well. Someone looking for work [now or in the future] may stumble across this thread and use the information to help decide whether they want to pursue leads in the private and/or public sector.