I am in Federal and cannot shake this idea that our clients are bumbling morons and the work we do doesn't matter. I see so many gov execs building empires at taxpayer expense instead of (cont'd...)

Bad incentives. Bad hiring. Short term thinking. Can't fire. So many reasons

You think private sector clients are all go-getters? I see a huge amount of waste in F500, public sector are just more forthcoming.

making a tangible impact in the world. Everything is so slow, everyone at the client sites seems unprofessional and intellectually dim, and their goals are nebulous yet unrealistic yet pointless. I honestly feel like half the organisations I work with are redundant. Why does VA's IT dept need its OWN HR division? Why do SESs build unnecessary organizational complexity and never accomplish anything? Why can't govt operate a little leaner?

Working on fed projects will make you see the validity of the libertarian party

I've worked on both federal and commercial projects. Large corporations are just as bad, if not worse.

Btw, if you guys think VA sucks as a client, imagine how bad they suck as a disabled veteran. Absolutely terrible.

Depends on which Federal you work in. Intelligence not like that, and other security oriented organizations.

It really is. I voted for Hillary and consider myself really liberal person, but when I meet with clients and hear them talk about what they want and their pain points, I want to stand on the table and scream THIS WHOLE INITIATIVE/DEPT/TEAM IS NOTHING BUT THE PET PROJECT OF SOME IRRELEVANT SES AND IT WONT CHANGE ANYTHING BECAUSE NONE OF YOU HAVE ANY INCENTIVE TO WORK HARD.

It's not only the comically bloated organizational structures, it's this culture of entitlement where employees know they can't get fired and no one is held accountable for any type of success. Hell they won't even define success in a way that they can be held to later. Their leadership is soft and insular- spending is encouraged, not discouraged. People only tick off boxes to move up a pay grade. No drive, no ambition, no desire of efficiency.

Sounds about right. My personal beef was the people who were unqualified for the role, yet were hired anyway (or moved into a role bc it was higher GS rating).