They are killing me here!

[modlair]

My 2 cents.

The thread is filled with talk of "going back". Part time or otherise, it is all about "going back".

The internet has not embedded itself in our respective psyches yet because we didn't grow up with it.

It seems to me that one can take a laptop to Jamaica and spend 2 or 3 weeks there and when bored (you do get bored anywhere, and especially if there are 3 days filled with rain) then do 2-3 hours of work and email it in -- along with an invoice.

You don't have to "go back" to work part time for your previous company. If it's paperwork and not twisting wrenches, there is no reason you have to be on site to do the work.

[2B]

Originally Posted by grumpy

A week after I retired from NASA I was back at essentially the same job as a three day a week contract employee.* I made more working 3 days than I would have if I had stayed and worked full time as a civil servant.* After a year I reduced it to two days a week and at the end of that year I fully retired at age 57.*

Now when I was at NASA I seldom saw a full day's work done in a typical work week. Of course, I was evaluating it from the perspective of someone who had never worked anywhere outside of the private sector. So, when you were working 3 days per week were you finished after lunch on Monday?

BTW -- I was a contractor, of course. I never miss a chance to razz a "gold badge."

[grumpy]

Originally Posted by 2B

Now when I was at NASA I seldom saw a full day's work done in a typical work week. Of course, I was evaluating it from the perspective of someone who had never worked anywhere outside of the private sector. So, when you were working 3 days per week were you finished after lunch on Monday?

BTW -- I was a contractor, of course. I never miss a chance to razz a "gold badge."

2B,

I don't know what part of NASA you were seeing but in my part that was certainly not the case. I was in project financial management. When NASA experienced big budget cuts they always cut the administrative staff first. We were chronically understaffed. At one point I was managing the budget and costs for a $1.5 billion program with just 4 resources analysts. In my contracted position we were configuring, installing, testing and training for a new agency wide financial management system with severe schedule constraints. We were busting our humps all of the time. I feel like NASA and the taxpayers got more than their money's worth from me. I also think that was true of the vast majority of folks working at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Sorry you hold such a low opinion of the work ethic of NASA employees.

Grumpy

[Enuff2Eat]

2b and grumpy,

i am working for the fed too. i think it's all depend on the individual and the team that they are working on. most everyone worked hard here but i do notice 2 different type of people.

Type 1) love the work, the true science and research.

Type 2) work hard like everyone else but more focus on finding way to move up the ladder than the true science behind the work. another word, they do work hard but only to get ahead but NOT really to serve.

enuff

[donheff]

Originally Posted by 2B

Now when I was at NASA I seldom saw a full day's work done in a typical work week.

Hummm... my nephew was Chief of Staff at NASA for the last half of the Clinton Admin. As a political appointee he came in with expectations that many of the career folks would be the much maligned "Government slackers" we hear so much about. After spending time on the job he reported that his perception was that almost all of the career people he dealt with were dedicated, competent, and very hard working.

Don

[2B]

Originally Posted by 2B

BTW -- I was a contractor, of course.* I never miss a chance to razz a "gold badge."

This was meant to kid Grumpy a little. It got blown out of proportion. Since it has, I give a little report on what I did see. There were a several civil servants that had private businesses that they ran on "government time," some people were in jobs that were technically far beyond their capablilities, some seemed to spend most of their day counting the years until they had enough points to retire and some were just political jerks. There were also frequent encounters where it was obvious that since I was a contractor my opinion should be kept to myself. There were also a large number of committed individuals that did a good job. Most of it was very similar to private industry.

I did listen to a few whiners that said that they could be making a lot more in private industry which justifies an absurdly generous pension. I finally told one that I thought I had a decent rapport with that I knew what her grade level paid and it wasn't really any different than the private sector for her kind of job. All of us contractors are in the private sector, make a fraction of the equivalent CS grade of pay and there ain't no pension waiting for us.