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Post by anb0906 on May 1, 2014 17:32:25 GMT
Welcome! Attachments:
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Post by catbelly on May 1, 2014 19:59:11 GMT
That was exactly my experience. Everyone was just... there to ride it through the status quo. I met people who were there because it was comfortable, secure, and gave them good money and benefits. I met people who enjoyed it because they didn't have to actually work that hard and spent the majority of their day wasting time on youtube, forums, chatting around, emails (our tax dollars at work?). And then I met several who were honest and hard-working and they were looking for more of a vigorous challenge, but overall, they ended up not being a good fit for government work. One of my closest friends from my census days was really cool, very smart, amazingly talented, and he was working on the side to break into the beer brewing business. (I hope he makes it someday.) There were also those who were downright vicious and stepped one everyone else just to get to higher places, and the workplace was really lacking in mutual respect. There was gossip everywhere, and I'm pretty sure I heard shouting arguments between my boss and her project managers on a daily basis. My job wasn't nearly as complex as it sounds, though they were trying to introduce more complex systems and analytical processes. I basically solicited and compiled teacher salary data from each state education agency, but the problem was, the quality of the data was absolute and utter crap and I spent most of my time attempting to fix and adjust for extreme outliers and clearly 'wrong' data (like a teacher earning millions from the state in a calendar year... yeah, right). Work within the Census Bureau varied widely, though. I hear that there are extremely different experiences depending on which branch you worked for, and your boss definitely made a huge, huge, huge difference! Oh boy, I can relate. We had big-time gossip and politics at the DoD agency I worked at. I was so naive too, as this was my first professional job after getting my degree. Most of the people there were much older but I still made some really good friends there. I managed to find the right mentors to teach me everything they knew and there was so much work, that I was able to pick up all that I wanted to learn more. I eventually moved up although I hit a ceiling in the sense that I didn't want to go up any further in that organization and deal with the clueless top managers and have to pass down and follow morale-sucking rules and procedures. I then crossed someone higher up who was so vindictive that he transferred me to a lonely field office while I was on my honeymoon. I resigned when I returned and started my own consulting firm (so I then sat on the opposite side of the table so to speak).
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Post by lyravega on May 2, 2014 0:02:22 GMT
Hello, hello! Glad to see you, Lari!
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Post by LariTheLoud on May 2, 2014 0:36:12 GMT
That was exactly my experience. Everyone was just... there to ride it through the status quo. I met people who were there because it was comfortable, secure, and gave them good money and benefits. I met people who enjoyed it because they didn't have to actually work that hard and spent the majority of their day wasting time on youtube, forums, chatting around, emails (our tax dollars at work?). And then I met several who were honest and hard-working and they were looking for more of a vigorous challenge, but overall, they ended up not being a good fit for government work. One of my closest friends from my census days was really cool, very smart, amazingly talented, and he was working on the side to break into the beer brewing business. (I hope he makes it someday.) There were also those who were downright vicious and stepped one everyone else just to get to higher places, and the workplace was really lacking in mutual respect. There was gossip everywhere, and I'm pretty sure I heard shouting arguments between my boss and her project managers on a daily basis. My job wasn't nearly as complex as it sounds, though they were trying to introduce more complex systems and analytical processes. I basically solicited and compiled teacher salary data from each state education agency, but the problem was, the quality of the data was absolute and utter crap and I spent most of my time attempting to fix and adjust for extreme outliers and clearly 'wrong' data (like a teacher earning millions from the state in a calendar year... yeah, right). Work within the Census Bureau varied widely, though. I hear that there are extremely different experiences depending on which branch you worked for, and your boss definitely made a huge, huge, huge difference! Oh boy, I can relate. We had big-time gossip and politics at the DoD agency I worked at. I was so naive too, as this was my first professional job after getting my degree. Most of the people there were much older but I still made some really good friends there. I managed to find the right mentors to teach me everything they knew and there was so much work, that I was able to pick up all that I wanted to learn more. I eventually moved up although I hit a ceiling in the sense that I didn't want to go up any further in that organization and deal with the clueless top managers and have to pass down and follow morale-sucking rules and procedures. I then crossed someone higher up who was so vindictive that he transferred me to a lonely field office while I was on my honeymoon. I resigned when I returned and started my own consulting firm (so I then sat on the opposite side of the table so to speak). Good for you! I think starting your own company/consulting firm is the way to go, if you have the ability and the connections to get you started. That's really fantastic. I'm still kind of sort of trying to find my way, but I've been dabbling in so many things that I keep myself busy. That is my main issue, really: I have tons and tons of interests, I'm reasonably good at a broad range of 'things,' and I get bored very easily if I'm stuck at one task or one arena for too long. I'll find my true calling... or I'll just have several true callings and switch throughout my life. OH, and glad to see you too, lyravega! :-)
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Post by prettyinpa on May 2, 2014 0:48:48 GMT
Hi ! I used to have chickens but they slowly disappeared, we have bears and coyotes who pick them off even though they had a protected roost for night. I guess free range chickens and wildlife don't play well together.
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Post by catbelly on May 2, 2014 4:20:35 GMT
Oh boy, I can relate. We had big-time gossip and politics at the DoD agency I worked at. I was so naive too, as this was my first professional job after getting my degree. Most of the people there were much older but I still made some really good friends there. I managed to find the right mentors to teach me everything they knew and there was so much work, that I was able to pick up all that I wanted to learn more. I eventually moved up although I hit a ceiling in the sense that I didn't want to go up any further in that organization and deal with the clueless top managers and have to pass down and follow morale-sucking rules and procedures. I then crossed someone higher up who was so vindictive that he transferred me to a lonely field office while I was on my honeymoon. I resigned when I returned and started my own consulting firm (so I then sat on the opposite side of the table so to speak). Good for you! I think starting your own company/consulting firm is the way to go, if you have the ability and the connections to get you started. That's really fantastic. I'm still kind of sort of trying to find my way, but I've been dabbling in so many things that I keep myself busy. That is my main issue, really: I have tons and tons of interests, I'm reasonably good at a broad range of 'things,' and I get bored very easily if I'm stuck at one task or one arena for too long. I'll find my true calling... or I'll just have several true callings and switch throughout my life. OH, and glad to see you too, lyravega! :-) That's great to be able to do lots of different things. Flexibility is what's needed nowadays. Makes for a much more fulfilling life I think.
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Post by LariTheLoud on May 2, 2014 12:05:17 GMT
Hi ! I used to have chickens but they slowly disappeared, we have bears and coyotes who pick them off even though they had a protected roost for night. I guess free range chickens and wildlife don't play well together. Oh no, prettyinpa!! That is so sad. I don't think there are many coyotes around here and definitely no bears in town, but I know the hawks, foxes, and raccoons are big problems. We're still in the 'research' phase for our own backyard coop!
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alisg
Beauty Lover
Posts: 68
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Post by alisg on May 2, 2014 17:47:50 GMT
Wow that was some in-depth introduction!! Mine was significantly less detailed Welcome, Lari! Good to see you!
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Post by prettyinpa on May 2, 2014 18:10:19 GMT
Hi ! I used to have chickens but they slowly disappeared, we have bears and coyotes who pick them off even though they had a protected roost for night. I guess free range chickens and wildlife don't play well together. Oh no, prettyinpa!! That is so sad. I don't think there are many coyotes around here and definitely no bears in town, but I know the hawks, foxes, and raccoons are big problems. We're still in the 'research' phase for our own backyard coop! Yep, definitely chickens need some sort of movable coop that protects them during the day here , which can be moved around over fresh food and insects. Hawks are also big predators of young chickens and a friend of mine who lives near the river has lost chickens to bald eagles! But I'd hate to confine them in a stationary area as they seem so happy scratching around in the horse manure and eating bugs from the garden.
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