Same thing here friend! The trick is realizing that the federal salary and benefits package is absolutely astronomically generous for the amount of work that the average fed puts in per month.
Then there’s the standard 10% of them that struggle to carry the load, burn themselves out, and leave to double their pay at the same workload. Work hard, deliver more? At best you’ll get a 1000$ yearly bonus.
Slack off, deliver nothing? Same thing, still get promoted.
A ridiculous thing from my time in government was that promotions were interview driven only. If you aced the interview, you got a promo. Didn't matter if you did shit beforehand.
A guy on my gov team got the promo over our by far most experienced and skilled developer as he spent his time practicing for the interview instead of working.
Then there’s the standard 10% of them that struggle to carry the load, burn themselves out, and leave to double their pay at the same workload. Work hard, deliver more? At best you’ll get a 1000$ yearly bonus.
Slack off, deliver nothing? Same thing, still get promoted.